A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the long break. An internship, graduation, and move all conspired against me, and it's taken me a while to work up the energy to keep writing. Hopefully I'm going to back on a relatively regular schedule now, and so can post more often. This one's a bit short, but that's mostly because I like ending it where I did. Enjoy!

Ignorance

"I'm sorry… you did what now?" McCoy was sincerely hoping that the ensign was joking.

The poor man shifted on the biobed. "I peed on my foot… on purpose."

"Uh-huh," McCoy looked down at the swollen foot that had taken on a variety of colors. As far as he could tell, this was not new. "And how long ago was this?"

"5 days? Maybe a week. It was when we stopped at Parsia IV for shore leave. Apparently the lake has jellyfish."

"Ensign," McCoy began as Nurse Chapel circled around them collecting the appropriate equipment. "You are aware that Parsia IV has no recorded contamination from life on Earth… no introduced species, especially."

"Yes, Doctor."

"So you knew that the jellyfish in the lake you swam in were not Terran jellyfish?"

"Well… yes, Doctor."

"And, as such, their stings would probably not respond to practices of human lore?"

"Well," the ensign shifted again. "It seemed like common sense at the time. And my foot did stop hurting."

Both of McCoy's eyebrows shot up but before he could say anything (or explode) Chapel thrust some antibiotics into his hand. "The draining system is all set up, Doctor."

"Thank you, Nurse." McCoy propped the ensign's foot up and examined the infection while Christine made herself scarce. "Well, your foot clearly had to start hurting again to get like this. When did you notice?"

"Maybe 2 or 3 days ago it started looking kinda bad."

"THREE DAYS?" McCoy exploded. "It started changing color DAYS ago? Ensign, do you know how easily infections spread? Do you know this could have gotten into your blood and poisoned your entire system? If we didn't have the equipment we have today do you know I'd be amputating your foot right now?!"

Outside the main ward, a small crowd drifted towards the accented shouting.

The ensign was quaking under McCoy's infamous diatribe when suddenly a lightbulb went off in his head. "Oh, is that why doctors were called 'Sawbones' and why Capt-"

"Shut up!" McCoy ordered. The infection was beginning to drain from the ensign's foot. "I'm not finished! Did you stop to think for one second that maybe peeing on an alien jellyfish's sting wasn't the best idea either? That it probably made things worse? That maybe that cure was an urban myth for a reason and that you should have immediately seen a doctor afterwards? Good Lord, did you at least wash it once you got back to the ship?" He hypoed the ensign with some of the antibiotics and began treating the old sting-wound once it was visible.

"Well yeah, I ran it under some water, and…"

"WITHOUT SOAP?!"