Olivia lowered her head to McCoy's chest, her hands clenched into fists.
"Please," she whispered. "Not like this."
Her ear pressed down, Olivia waited for the miracle to happen. She hopes that by some random twist of fate that for once, only once, life could be kind to her. After everything that had happened, he couldn't die like this. He stopped a madman from destroying Earth for Christ's sake. It wasn't fair he should die like this. She approached the statue first. Why didn't it get her?
Her thoughts went to a stand still. Why didn't it get her? Pulling herself together, Olivia wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes. Her knees hurt like hell and a powerful pain constricted her ribs and lungs. Still, Olivia made her way over to where the statue had been. The pile of rumble was glowing. Literally glowing, a soft hue that resembled a wild hazelnut tree. She resisted the urge to touch the rock and stood, returning to their gear that had been casually tossed to the other end of the lowered platform.
"Where the hell are you?" She dug through their possessions and finally emerged victorious with their communicators. The Council claimed that communicators wouldn't be able to work here. They also claimed there was nothing down here. An abandoned temple with killer statues certainly didn't constitute "nothing".
She tried her communicator first.
"Lieutenant Gellar to Captain Jackson." There wasn't even the familiar sound of static. She frowned and tried again, louder and slightly more desperate. "Lieutenant Gellar to Destiny. Is anyone there?"
Nothing.
Her headache was back, slowly killing Olivia from the inside out. She swore heavily and reached for Bones communicator. The action was illogical. After all, if hers didn't work then why the hell would his?
"This is Lieutenant Gellar of the USS Destiny. Can anyone hear me? Doctor McCoy is," she nearly choked on the resurfacing tears. No matter how many times she tried, Olivia couldn't admit he was dead. "Listen. If anyone can hear, respond. Respond!"
As she expected, Olivia was met with silence. Her heavy breathing echoed against the chamber walls, making her emotions flare within her chest. Olivia groaned in pain and tried to swallow the sadness raging through her.
"Get a hold of yourself, Liv. You don't love him. You don't." Olivia sighed. She was such a terrible liar. "Do your job. There's nothing you can do for him."
Even as she said those words, she didn't believe them. Olivia knew that somehow, some way, McCoy was not dead. One look back to his still and silent corpse made Olivia's rational mind focus. He was dead and now she'd have to find and rescue the research team on her own. Oh, Sarah was going to have a field day when she found out. The woman was positively unbearable. How she ever got assigned to fieldwork Olivia would never know.
The communicators still refused to work. Along with all the other thoughts raging like a storm within her mind, Olivia had finally reached her breaking point. A loud, shrill scream spilled into the air while she threw her communicator somewhere behind her. It skidded along the ground and hit something.
To no one in particular, Olivia began to shout. "Why didn't you take me? What the hell did Doctor Leonard McCoy ever do to you? He may be a lying, cheating bastard, but he doesn't deserve this. Take me!! Take me."
The echoes weren't her only response. A small groan, in a voice far too low in pitch to belong to her, sounded off quietly behind her. Olivia's heart skipped a few dozen beats. Surely her mind had a sick, twisted sense of humor. She tried to calm her breathing and her racing heart but failed at both.
She turned and searched the space behind her for the source of the noise. She struggled to remain standing when she discovered that it was McCoy who made the groan. His eyes were open and blinking rapidly to adjust to the light of the chamber. Another groan, though this one was a little higher in pitch. Olivia ignored the difference and flung herself to the ground next to him.
"Hey. I'm here. I'm here. Are you alright?"
He looked at her with confusion in his eyes. McCoy's hand touched the side of her face.
"You're real."
"Of course I'm real. Don't you scare me like that. I thought I lost you. You know I realize that I was a little hard on you. I should have listened when you—"
"I can't believe it worked. What do you know? Hansen was right."
Olivia drew back a little. McCoy's smile widened into the kind of half smirk only a woman could pull off. His eyes sparkled with mischief as he looked into Olivia's face, now thoroughly confused.
"You're confused?"
"You better believe it. What have you done with the real Doctor McCoy?"
"Such anger for one who obviously still loves the good doctor."
Olivia advanced quickly, knocking McCoy's body back to the ground. "What have you done with him?"
"He's not dead if that's what you mean."
Olivia's shoulders relaxed and she let out a sigh.
"Where is he then?"
"He's in my body."
Olivia growled, actually growled. Where was this behavior even coming from? She shook her head and tried to clear her mind. "And who are you?"
The laughter coming from McCoy sent shivers down Olivia's spine. "You over emotional goody two shoes. You haven't changed a bit. Still so entirely clueless."
"Not clueless enough to punch you in the jaw."
"You won't do that. Not while I'm stuck in this body."
Whoever it was in there was right, not the Olivia was going to admit to that. "Try me." She only hoped the bluff was good enough.
Another laugh, this one was even girlier than Olivia would have ever wanted to see. He now stood and whoever occupied him was busy admiring their new form. Ever part of this new body was apparently utterly fascinating to the person within McCoy's mind. Olivia scoffed and stood with a scowl on her face and fists clasped tightly behind her back to stop her fist from colliding with McCoy's face.
"I will give you three seconds to tell me who you are."
"Or what?"
"One . . ."
"You're still so amusing."
"Two . . ." Olivia took a step closer. "You won't like three."
"I wasn't afraid of you back at the Academy, and I'm not afraid of you now. No matter what you do, I will always win. You couldn't even hold on to this one. I have to admit, he's still rather sexy. Don't you agree, Olivia?"
"How do you know my name? Who are you?"
"It's me . . . it's Sarah."
Olivia's mouth went dry. "I don't believe you. It's not possible. Scientists on Earth have discredited the idea of mind switching."
"Believe it, Gellar. Those statues are used to help couples 'see through their lovers eyes'. A long time ago, when the ancestors of these people used this place, couples would mind switch to further understand the one they were bonded too."
"That still doesn't explain why you did it."
"The two surviving members of the research team and I were trapped in a deep underground chamber. Most rescue teams are made up of men so I was the logical choice to wait for a male to approach the statue and switch with him so that I could lead the rest of the rescue party down."
"Sarah. You get out of him right now."
"The statue's power is drained. We must find two new statues. Luckily we found a set in the room adjoining ours. Find my body and we find a solution, though being stuck in this body isn't exactly a problem."
"Don't talk about him that way."
"Jealous?"
Yes. "Absolutely not."
Sarah raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on McCoy's hips just like Sarah would have. "You're absolutely terrible at lying."
Olivia sighed and decided a change in subject was in order. "Where is your body?"
"Deeper into the complex. We should get there within a half a day's travel. So we better leave now."
Olivia grumbled. "You're in Doctor McCoy's body, so you should have his strength."
"Believe me, I'm no stranger to this body."
Breathe, Olivia reminded herself. Breathe. She's just pushing your buttons.
"Look. In the interest of the success of this mission, I will declare a temporary truce. You don't make insults and I'll leave your body's face intact when we find it. Deal?"
"Sure."
Three hours into the complex and Olivia was about ready to shoot herself. Sarah just wouldn't shut up.
"Must you continue to talk so incessantly?"
"Must you continue to whine about my incessant talking?"
"You're such a manipulative bitch."
"Thank you."
Olivia slumped against a wall and set the handheld light source by her outstretched legs.
"What are you doing?"
"Resting. We won't be good to them if either of us passes out. Sit down. That's an order."
"An order?"
"Last time I checked. Lieutenant outranks ensign. Now sit down."
Sarah crossed her arms and sat opposite of Olivia. The two were breathing somewhat heavily and exhaustion pulled heavily on their bodies. Olivia ransacked her bag until she found her canteen, which she tossed to Sarah.
"Drink."
Sarah eyed the container suspiciously.
Olivia laughed. "Oh, please. I'm not that big a bitch to spike your water. But don't think for one second we're friends. You took Leo away from me." Sarah gulped down a fourth of the contents before screwing the cap back on and tossing it back with a little more vigor than necessary. Olivia rolled her eyes.
"Did he ever tell you why?"
"He says he doesn't remember."
"And you believe him?"
Olivia thought on it. "It's only logical that if he hasn't caved by now, he must be telling the truth."
Olivia was slightly thankful when McCoy's eyes were no longer on her. They were closed with Sarah leaning back against the wall. A small smile cracked the emotionless façade she always tried to maintain. "You're even more gullible than I thought."
"Can we just drop this?"
"As you wish." Olivia caught the subtle, but no less hurtful, but of sarcasm thrown directly at her.
"Was it true that you had an affair with a man who was to be married?"
"He didn't tell me he was going to be married."
"Why did you come here?"
"Long story."
"Talk fast then."
"I'm tired."
"Talk even faster so I get the whole thing before you fall asleep."
Sarah sneered in Olivia's direction. She was going to say something quite insulting when Olivia narrowed her eyes into a glare. Sarah may be confrontational but she wasn't stupid and she certainly didn't go back on her word. If she insulted Olivia, she'd wait for her and McCoy to switch back before punching her face in.
"It all began when I first found the caves. I was drawn to them. I'm the only woman on my team." She laughed. "I suppose that should have been my first hint."
************************************************************************
"Oh shit." Erin looked at the screen with a dropped jaw and wide eyes. These results couldn't be correct. "Doctor Kolshar to Commander Hallon."
Go ahead, Erin.
"Sir. You better get the captain and meet me down in sickbay."
What's wrong? Did you figure out the rash?
"Yes, I think so."
Twenty minutes later, Erin was pacing back and forth in front of the two captains and their two first officers. Spock was the only one who showed a sense of calm among the anxious faces of the other men.
"I went over the results twice just to make sure." Erin brought up a picture from the file that was on the chip she'd been given. "According to their genome, this is a genetic disease. It has struck the species before. Roughly three thousand Earth years ago. Nearly eliminated the population."
"What does the disease infect?"
"The reproductive system. Makes whoever has been infected infertile and considerably shortens their life span by nearly half."
"And it's not contagious?"
"No, sir, it's not."
"Is there a cure?"
"That's where it gets a little fuzzy. Records indicate the cure is a substance called Barezden-A."
"Can they synthesize it?"
"No, and there's no surviving samples on the surface. I asked Lieutenant Uhura to translate the documents on the chip Hallon brought back. Upon analyzing them, I found that apparently the Alecksha was the time this disease hit and the people initiated a repopulating program. Except most of this species finds mating distasteful."
"How distasteful?"
"Very distasteful. So the scientists created a place where couples could go in secret. They infused the rock with a compound that stimulates dangerous levels of estrogen and testosterone production in females."
"Barezden-A?"
Erin smiled at Kirk. "Yes, Captain Kirk."
Hallon looked completely confused. "Why would they do that?"
"To make them aggressive and want to mate. Sir, I've analyzed their genome. Human females and the females of this species are very similar and indicate that a similar response will happen in the presence of this substance. The longer the exposure, the more profound the effects."
"Why couldn't they just go into the caves like before?"
"I believe they've become somewhat immune to its effects. Their doctors must have made the same connections and forced the research team into the caves where they could study Sarah's response."
"Those sneaky bastards. I knew they were up to something. They're watching Sarah's reaction to the substance to help themselves."
Kirk straightened. "And we just sent in Lieutenant Gellar and Bones. No wonder they picked a man and a woman."
Spock raised an eyebrow. "Doctor, what can you tell us about the effects of Barezden-A?"
"I ran some tests through the medical database. That's when I became extremely alarmed."
"Why?"
She bit her lip and sat down one of the nearby biobeds. "If Lieutenant Gellar doesn't mate soon, she will die from hormone overdose."
"How soon?"
"It's hard to speculate."
Hallon's mouth turned down into a frown. "How soon?"
Erin sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Two days at the most."
Jackson pounded a fist on the table. "Commander Hallon. Get me the Council."
"I'll come with you." Kirk stood. "Spock, get to Enterprise and see what you can do with the transporter."
"Aye, captain."
Jackson turned back to Erin. "See if you can find a way to synthesize Barezden-A."
Erin nodded and returned to her work. Jackson, Kirk and Hallon raced to the bridge.
"Hallon, get me the Council."
"With pleasure, Captain."
The emperor's face filled the screen.
"Captain Jackson. Now isn't the best time."
*
Author's Note: See I told you all Bones wouldn't stay dead for long!! Although he's in Sarah's body so that should be interesting to write. I have to admit I cracked up laughing imagining a woman personality in Karl Urban's body. So waking up to all your reviews really made my day!!! Seriously I had the most shiztastic day EVER!!! I ended up curling up with Kirk. Kirk is my Tribble. He even makes NOISE!!! Yeah…I am so easily amused.
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A big thank you to Steff7, felineofoz, stargirl0507, Lady Valadhiel, miller330, CaffeineKid, DuckyInTheWater, Yayyou, Vulcanvamp and Canna. *whew* That's a lot of reviewers…You guys rock!!!! Oh and special thanks to CaffeineKid, Yayyou and DuckyInTheWater (your "intense" research is still making me laugh) for your amazing PM's. I seriously refresh my inbox every 3.14 seconds because you all make me giggle.
See you guys and gals next chapter…don't forget to review. Reviews get chapters faster. Plus, it gives me a break from packing. Oooh, speaking of which, I'm almost done with packing!!! Packing so sucks. Can you imagine that some people actually enjoy moving?
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-Trekky17