Chapter 3

Bones was busy- which was surprising considering Thursday mornings were usually uneventful. Not today though. Today, a group of what he could only describe as idiots had gotten into a fight over a girl. What they hadn't realised was that the girl happened to have a huge boyfriend. And by huge- he meant huge. The doctor had never seen a guy so big. His whole body was covered in muscle, as if he had swallowed a truckload of steroids. He had come away from the fight with a few minor scratches, but his opponents, well, let's just say they wouldn't be walking straight for a while.

As soon as Bones had spotted them, he informed the nurses to not bother him unless circumstances were dire. He had enough crap to deal with already.

He finished his shift an hour late- it wasn't the best of days. He was about to leave when a nurse informed him about some guy who had asked for him earlier. He was sure it was Kirk as she had mentioned that he had used the name 'Bones'. So, he was ready to apologise, huh? He wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, the kid was a pain in the ass and he was still annoyed about the argument, but on the other hand it was really hard to stay mad at him. Really hard. There was something about Jim Kirk that made you want to punch him in the face whilst simultaneously giving him a hug. Those darned puppy dog eyes didn't help either.

Bones shrugged it off. Jim could handle a few days of silence. Maybe it would teach him not to be such a hot-headed fool.

Christopher Pike had been walking from his office when he encountered admirals Bentley and Davis. He wasn't exactly fond of either of them but pretences had to be made.

When he spotted Kirk he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He looked like crap- even worse than he had the night before. It hurt him to speak to the kid like he had, but he couldn't keep coddling him forever. The admirals were already beginning to question whether his judgements about James T Kirk were right. To be honest, he was beginning to have similar thoughts.

"…he actually thinks he can become a Captain!"

Those words had annoyed Pike. Yes, Jim had screwed up, but the admirals had taken it too far.

"Give the kid a break, he has something special. He may not be showing it right now- but it's there. Trust me."

They stopped laughing. Both knew Pike well enough to take him seriously when it came to his intuitions. As much as they doubted that cadet Kirk would last the year, maybe, just maybe, he would make something out of himself.

"James."

Kirk stirred. There was a distant voice calling his name, but from where?

"Hey James, wake up!"

He was shaken rather violently by the owner of the voice.

"Look James, I'm all for having a great night out and whatnot, but when you drink so much that you pass out in the middle of our room, there's something wrong."

"Huh? I didn't…"

It was only after he had gathered his thoughts that he realised that the voice belonged to his roommate. Danny was one of the very few people who called him 'James'. Something to do with a deep hatred of nicknames. Didn't stop Jim from calling him Danny though.

"I thought you were staying with your fiancé for-"

"Yeah…things didn't really go as planned."

Jim sat up slowly, leaning himself against a chest of drawers.

"Trouble in paradise?"

"Ha. Barely. It'll all smooth over in a while. She just thinks it'll be better if we take a break."

"That's what Ross and Rachel thought." Jim said, remembering an old TV show his mother used to watch growing up.

"Who?"

"Never mind."

Danny helped Kirk to his feet, but let him make his own way to his bed. It was best to let him keep some of his pride.

"You should really lay off the drinks for a while dude. At least until you've gotten your shit together."

"Mmhmm." Kirk was in no mood to correct the man. He lay there as Danny unpacked his clothes and talked about his love life. He really should have been listening but he was trying to remember something. When he had passed out he could have sworn he was closer to his bed than he had been when he awoke. Had someone moved him? It was then that he remembered the tail. Was it a his imagination? Maybe he was remembering the hot alien girl he had met at the bar.

"..okay?"

"Sorry, what?"

Danny had stopped talking and was staring at him.

"Are you okay? I don't mean to offend you or anything, but you look like shit."

Kirk gave his best convincing smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling a bit sick, that's all."

Danny looked for another second and shrugged. "Well if you're sure. Just let me know if you need anything."

Once he had finished unpacking, his roommate switched off the lights and went to bed. Jim lay there staring into the darkness. He hoped he could get a good night's sleep.

The next few days passed quickly. He could swear he was feeling worse. Why wasn't his illness- whatever it was- going away? To make matters worse, he hadn't spoken with either Bones or Pike during this time. Heck, he hadn't even seen them. There were times when he had been tempted to call them again, but he didn't want to appear too needy. If they wanted to speak with him, they would do so in their own time.

Monday morning came sooner than Jim would have liked. Unfortunately, his suspension did not include exclusion from the physical. Oh how he wished it had. Danny was gone by the time he woke up, probably doing some last minute training. He really should have been doing the same, but the thought of physically exerting himself was exhausting. God knows how he was going to get through the day.

Danny waved Jim over as he entered the start of the field. He spotted Bones not far off and offered a smile which was met with the usual glare. The physical exam consisted of a large field filled with various obstacles that cadets were expected to overcome in a certain period. The time in which they were to complete it varied depending on the individual. As Jim was on command track, this meant he had to be better than the others in order to prove himself. Normally he would ace physicals- but today…today just wasn't his day.

He watched as students completed their physicals, ten at a time. There were various academy professors about to observe, as well as a few admirals. He was glad to see that Pike wasn't there.

He felt his stomach drop when they called out his name. He was in line with a few other command track cadets, all of who looked to be in better shape than he did.

"One…two…three…go!"

Jim started running, adrenaline surging through his blood. He only hoped this would last for the full obstacle course. He was only five minutes into the exam when he realised he was lagging behind everyone else by at least ten feet. He had to increase his pace.

It was not until the last course that a wave of nausea washed through Kirk. He hadn't eating anything that morning, but he would really rather not have a dry heaving attack in front of everyone.

The final hurdle wasn't the hardest, but when combined with everything else it appeared that way. It consisted of a single rope slung out tightly across a length of water. You had to simply pull yourself across the rope and get to the finish line. If you fell in the water, you failed. Simple as.

Jim braced himself and pulled himself up. There were five ropes in total for all ten students, so multiple people could climb across one. Six students had already finished the course and the other three were not far off. Jim bit back his embarrassment and started to drag himself across. His head was spinning and his fever was creeping higher and higher. His hands were already sore from previous obstacles, which made this one increasingly difficult. It took him some time, but he was edging closer to the end. Just as he was about to breathe in a sigh of relief, his hand slipped.

Jim felt himself fall, but his mind did not comprehend what had happened. How could he fall? Physicals were something he took pride in…but he had failed. He sat in the water staring into space, unable to believe what had just happened. The sound of the whistle in the background brought him back to reality. He looked over to see someone walking over to him. They helped him out of the water and walked him over to the rest of the cadets.

"Cadet Kirk…fail."

Fail.

Jim hated that word more than he could explain. A few cadets were staring at him, whispering to themselves. Some even sniggered. Oh, the mighty James Tiberius Kirk had fallen. How they must love it. Jim was handed his grading sheet and quickly made his way out of the field. Humiliation, shock and nausea were not a good combination. Tears were beginning to form on the edge of his eyes. He was fed up.

McCoy watched as Jim struggled across the rope. He had been going a lot slower than usual. Seeing the kid for the first time after their argument was not as he expected. Jim was pale, bruised and looked as if he had lost weight. The doctor cursed himself for not checking up on him sooner. What if there was something seriously wrong with him? It wasn't until the final obstacle that he began to realise that there was in fact something wrong. Jim had swayed a little before getting on the rope, and the climb across it seemed to physically pain him. A silence fell over the field the moment he fell, and Bones had to stop himself from running over to his friend. He was about to rush over to him when he heard his name being called- it was his turn. Damn it. He'd have to check up on Jim later.

Jim made his way back to his room as quickly as his run down body would let him. He didn't notice the men following him. He didn't even hear their heavy footsteps across the gravel. It was only when a needle was jammed into his neck and he was thrown across a large shoulder that it dawned on him. He was being kidnapped.

A/N: Sorry for the late update guys, I had uni exams! Had my last one today though so thank goodness. Sorry again as I didn't get a chance to reply to the reviews on the last chapter but I'm really glad you guys took the time to write such kind reviews. I hope you liked this chapter!