"And now we can get this party started," George said as Jim, Hendorff and Sulu walked into the main house on the Kirk farm on Thanksgiving.

"Don't get too excited, Gary's parking his cruiser," Sulu chuckled as Gaila let out a groan.

"Are you guys ever gonna let that go?" Chris -as the sheriff insisted to be called- asked.

"No," Sulu, the Kirks and the Averys all said in unison.

"The only reason he's allowed over here right now is because holidays are truce days," Elaine Avery said with a chuckle. Her husband, Robert, just nodded.

"I don't get it. What happened?" Leonard asked.

"I cheated," Gary said as he walked into the house and shook the snow off his jacket. "I was drinking and it was stupid and I've been apologizing for it for four years. They have the right to be mad. So do you, if you want."

"I'm done being mad at people for the shit they pull," the southerner said, glad that the kids were watching movies in George's old room.

"Uh huh," Jim chuckled. Her voice wasn't one hundred percent but it was back. Leonard could admit that his missed it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leonard looked at her.

"You bitch and moan when people do stupid stuff all the time. You were bitching at me for getting hurt," she smiled.

"And me," Scotty added.

"It's one of your most infuriating yet endearing qualities, Bonesy," Jim told him. He looked at her but he didn't say anything. She just smiled at him.

"Wait a second," George looked at Jim, then Leonard, then back at Jim. "Are you guys together?"

"Are we?" Jim asked with a smirk as she looked up at him.

"We're, uh… We're an us," Leonard said with smile. They hadn't actually put a title on it so that was the best he could do.

"Ha, I bloody knew it," Scotty laughed.

"Greg and Ru, pay up," Gaila smiled. "I told you."

"Da," Chekov said. "So did I."

"You guys were betting on us, Red?" Jim asked.

"Of course we were. Nothing better to do around here," Gaila shrugged.

"I wasn't but only because I already knew," Arlene said.

"You knew?" a bunch of people asked her at once.

"I figured it before everyone else did, including them," Arlene smiled.

"Why don't we have a chat, Leonard?" Chris said with a smile. Jim stood between the two men. "I'm not gonna hurt him, Jim."

"Tommy Leighton," Jim, Gaila, George, Arlene and Winona all said at the same time.

"Who?" Leonard asked, remembering the name from that conversation on Sunday.

"My prom date… sorta," Jim said. "Wasn't much of a date thanks to Chris."

"What'd you do, sheriff?" Leonard looked at the other man.

"Scared Tommy half to death the day before prom," Gaila chuckled.

"He barely danced with me and I didn't even get a kiss goodnight. Come to find out that Chris threatened him within an inch of his life. Told him that he couldn't touch me or he'd loose his arm," Jim chuckled.

"Ouch," Hendorff shook his head. "That's cold."

"Whatever happened to him?" Arlene asked.

"He lives in New York or something. Got married, had a bunch of kids. His folks moved to Florida," Winona said.

"I almost went with him," Jim sighed.

"Why didn't you?" Leonard asked.

"Didn't feel right. He was nice and all but I just couldn't do it. Probably a good thing. I was more of a mess then than I am now and I would've brought Tommy all kinds of pain. Can you imagine me, younger and with fewer morals, in a place like New York City?"

"That wouldn't've ended well," George nodded.

"Chris still ruined my prom, though. I should've just taken Sam," Jim smiled.

"I was looking out for you, kiddo," Chris told her.

"I don't need you to look out for me on this one," Jim said with a smile. "Besides, Bones already got a shovel talk from his daughter."

George smiled, "And my wife and my son. Hell, I'm not even gonna give him the talk."

"Why not?" Gaila asked.

"Because I'm actually more worried about her hurting him than the other way around," the older Kirk sibling said to the shock of everyone, including Leonard. The tall blonde smiled when he looked at the southerner. "I grew up with Jim, I know how she can get. While she would never intentionally hurt someone she cares about, she can be a bit extreme when it comes to certain things. Besides, if you hurt her, she can handle it herself."

"Finally, someone with faith in me," Jim chuckled.

"I have faith in you," Leonard reminded her.

"I know you do," Jim smiled.

"Get a room," Arlene told them.

"I have one, don't tempt me to use it," Jim told her sister-in-law with a smile.

"Fine, I'll do this here," Chris said and the whole room went silent, which was ominous as hell. "You have a daughter, Leonard. The love you have for her is like nothing else in the universe. I love Jim like she's my own. As a father, I'm sure you can use your imagination if anything happens to her."

"Yes, sir, I can," Leonard nodded. That wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, then again, they were in a room full of people.

"Good. Now, Jim," Chris said. She pointed to herself. "Yes, you. I know you better than I you know yourself. Leonard is a good man who cares a lot about you, so don't fuck it up. I'll kick your ass if you do."

"Did Chris really just give me a shovel talk?" Jim asked.

"Yep," Gaila chuckled. "His wasn't as cool as mine."

"You didn't?" Arlene asked her sister.

"Of course I did. Someone has to have the doc's back and since I'm the first friend he made in Riverside, the job fell to me. Besides, I promised his mother I'd keep an eye on him," the redhead shrugged.

"Really?" Leonard looked at her.

"Yes. She's a nice lady. I got to chat with her when she called you at the clinic," Gaila smiled.

"Hers wasn't as bad as Spock's," Jim muttered.

"Spock?" George asked.

"Yea. It wasn't a full-on shovel talk, just some advice," Jim told her brother.

"I never would've guessed that one," Leonard said.

"He's not as emotionally clueless as he lets on," Gaila smiled. "Granted, he doesn't pick up on social cues like the rest of us but he's observant and other than Scotty, Jim's his only friend."

"He thinks she's as bat-shit crazy as I am but he also thinks she's bloody brilliant when she has something to focus it on. It's the one thing we all have in common," Scotty smiled.

"Barely. I'm nowhere near as smart as you or him," Jim chuckled. Scotty rolled his eyes. "Now, are we doing this thing or what?"

"Yea, yea. I need arms, so George, Greg and Leonard, you're with me. Gaila and Pavel, can you set the table? Everyone else; the extra chairs," Arlene said, ordering them all around just as a loud tone went through the room. Jim, Chris and the deputies all put their hands over the radios that they had attached to their normal clothes. The sheriff must've given them a break on wearing their uniforms on duty for the holiday.

"I'll take it," Chris said.

"You sure, Sheriff? I can go," Gary offered.

"Na, I got it. Sit down and eat. One of you can take the next one," the sheriff said as he pulled on his coat before he spoke into his radio. "Seventy-five-one to dispatch; show me responding."

"What's wrong?" Leonard whispered. Jim shook her head. "You're a crappy liar. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Bones," she said with a small smile just as Joanna returned to her seat and handed Leonard his phone.

"Mama said hi," Jo smiled. Leonard nodded and glanced at Jim.

"Are you jealous?" Leonard whispered into her ear. She just shrugged. "There's no reason to be."

"I can't exactly help it. And you got your nerve," Jim whispered back. "Stop glaring at Sulu."

He rolled his eyes, "Why should I? He's the one who keeps looking at you."

"Sulu," she said.

"Sup, Jim?" the new sergeant looked at her.

"How's the boyfriend?" Jim asked.

"He's good, says hi," Sulu said with a big smile.

Leonard raised an eyebrow, "Sulu is…"

"Gayer than Christmas. His boyfriend lives in Milwaukee. Nobody outside this house knows, not even his parents. He's not looking at me, Doctor Hottie," she wiggled her eyebrows with a chuckle.

"Stop it," he chuckled.

"Whatever you say, Bonesy," Jim smiled just as her radio crackled to life. Leonard couldn't hear what was being said but the look on Jim's face told him that something was very wrong. "Seventy-five-two to seventy-five-one," Jim said into her radio. She waited a beat before she repeated herself. "Seventy-five-two to seventy-five-one; come in Sheriff." Again, she got nothing. "Seventy-five-two to dispatch; I need a status on the sheriff."

"Dispatch to seventy-five-two; sheriff is not resp… Seventy-five-two we're getting an alert from his radio," the person on the other end said.

"Dispatch; I need his last known. Show seventy-five-two, four, six, seven and fourteen responding. Be advised we are plainclothes," Jim said into her radio as she, Sulu, Mitchell, Hendorff and Scotty got up from the table. Leonard figured that Scotty must be a member of the department's reserve component since there were only ten full-time sworn officers and his identifier was higher than that.

"Seventy-five-eight responding as well, dispatch," someone said on the radio.

"What does that mean?" Leonard asked.

"All the radios have a panic button. Sounds like Chris hit his. Means he needs help. Might be hurt," Gaila said as she stood up, worry etched into her features. "I'm gonna head over to the fire station and grab the ambulance." Leonard glanced at his daughter before he glanced at Arlene, who nodded.

"Jim, I'm coming with you," Leonard said as he stood up and grabbed his jacket. She looked at him. "If he's hurt, you're gonna want me there."

Jim thought about it for half a second before she nodded, "You wear a vest, you stay behind me and you do what you're told or so help me…"

"You'll kick my ass, I know," Leonard said as they jogged to Jim's cruiser.

"Keep calling for him. I'm seventy-five-two, he's seventy-five-one," she told him as they got into the car and she sped off the property.

"Seventy-five-two to seventy-five-one," Leonard said in the radio as Jim drove like a bat out of hell. "Nothing."

"Keep trying," Jim said. Leonard did what she asked, keeping an eye on her as he did. She was more worried than he's ever seen her and that's saying a lot since someone attacked her in her house six days ago. Jim pulled up behind Pike's Expedition at some out of the way warehouse that looked like it's been abandoned for years.

"What is this place?"

"Used to be an auto repair shop. Closed ten years ago and nobody bought the building. Usually, we're kicking kids outta here every few days," she told him as she went to her trunk, pulled on her vest and tossed him a small medical bag.

"Here, man," Gary said as he handed Leonard a vest. His didn't have the Sheriff patches that Jim and the guys had but other than that it was the same.

"Is all that necessary?" Leonard asked when he noticed that Sulu and Hendorff had assault rifles.

"We don't actually know, so it's better to be prepared," Jim said as another car pulled up. She looked at the deputy. "Jacobs, take the back with Sulu and Scotty. Mitch and Cupcake you're with me. Bones…"

"Stay behind you," the doctor nodded.

This was fucking surreal. Leonard had to chalk it up to being in a small town, there were only so many people to do so many things. He never thought in a million years that he'd be running into an active crime scene with a bunch of deputies, one of which, he was dating. Leonard took a deep breath as they got themselves set outside the door. Jim counted down from three with her fingers, as soon as she got to zero, Hendorff went through the door, Jim right behind him. Leonard did what he was told and stayed behind her and in front of Mitchell.

"Door, left," Hendorff said.

Jim checked the room, "Left, clear."

"Got blood," the big guy Jim refers to as Cupcake said. Leonard spotted the trail of red on the ground.

"I see it," Jim muttered.

"Sheriff?" Gary called. They all heard a groan.

"Body," Hendorff told them. Jim gave him the okay and Leonard checked the girl's pulse.

"She's dead, Jim," Leonard sighed as he closed the poor girl's eyes. She couldn't have been any older than Jim. "You know her? What am I saying? Of course you do."

"Marla McGivers. History teacher at the junior high," she sighed as they kept moving.

"Jim, we found him. You better get the doc back here," Sulu said over the radio.

"Copy that," Jim said.

As soon as Hendorff called 'all clear', they met up with the others. Scotty and Sulu were doing their damnedest to stop Chris' bleeding. Leonard pulled on gloves and joined them. Chris was wearing his vest but that didn't seem to matter, he had a bunch of stab wounds on his back and his side and he lying in a puddle of blood. Leonard started with his ABCs. Chris was still talking, all be it a little slurred, so Leonard knew his airway was clear. He was breathing faster than he should've been but he was breathing. His blood pressure was shit, his pulse was fast and thready and he was a pale as a ghost. So much for circulation.

"He's going into shock. I can almost guarantee that his liver is a mess. I need to get him out of here before he bleeds to death," Leonard told Jim as he cut off the bottom of the sheriff's shirt to see what he was working with.

"Tried to help her," the sheriff mumbled as Leonard tried to stop the bleeding.

"We know you did," Jim said as she held Chris' head until they could get a collar on him. "You did good, old man."

"Liar," Chris muttered.

"I need you to move your hands," the doctor said to Scotty. "Put 'em right there." Scotty shifted to where Leonard told him while Sulu helped secure the padding down. Unfortunately, Chris was bleeding through them faster than they could apply them, which was bad. Very, very bad. Leonard started an IV, which was made harder by Chris' crappy circulation, and cursed under his breath that the medical kit from the cruiser didn't have any pain meds in it. "Where the hell is Gaila?"

"I'm here," she said as she ran in with a stretcher, a backboard and a medical bag. "Holy shit."

"No kidding," Leonard said. "Please tell me you're not alone and that bag has morphine in it."

"I'm not, Pavel's turning the ambulance around so we can peel out of here. And yes, I have meds. Where do you need me?" the redhead asked.

"He's tankin'. We have to get him outta here," Leonard told her. Gaila nodded as she -plus Jim, Scotty, Sulu and Jacobs- helped get the Sheriff secured and into the ambulance. Sulu took over driving while Pavel jumped into the back to help Leonard and Gaila.

"We'll meet you at the hospital," Jim said.

"Take your time, I'm taking him straight to the OR," Leonard told her as he hopped into the back of the ambulance.

"Okay," she muttered.

He looked at her, "Jim, I got him, darlin'."