Carnival

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Chapter Twelve

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Promises and Sweet Dreams

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There is always that moment right before chaos where the world slows to a stand still. The bubbles from a thousand flooded crevices flowed over the floating forms of what made up the last of the sentient life present on Pacifica's carnival. The need for oxygen seemed to fade as Spock's mind accepted the fact that he was going to die here. Clarity eased his body into relaxing; into taking in the final moments of a short but productive life. His brown eyes sought out his Captain. Jim was most likely dead by now, for he had been unconscious when the flooding began and instincts could only go so far; but there was a gentle expression on the man's face. The worry lines were gone… yet so was the color Spock had grown accustomed to; upon that realization there existed a small fraction sorrow. The warmth in human skin tones always spoke to the Vulcan in ways his cold artifacts and heritage could not. Now his friend's face was pale and purple-hued, more sickly then Spock ever remembered it being. A long-fingered hand reached out to slip over his face. There was the haze of death choking at what remained of a vibrant man. Spock retracted with a small look of regret before twisting to look at the doctor several meters below him… one last time.

Vienna was pressing her lips against McCoy's and giving the man a tiny glimmer of hope in the gases exchanged. Spock's eyebrow perked despite the situation, for her gesture was one that the First Officer would never have predicted. The look in McCoy's eyes conveyed a similar feeling. Wonder dominated Bones' features, and Spock nearly smiled. If the Vulcan could have picked an expression he had wanted to see on his friend's face before he died, bewilderment would have been it.

A tingling sensation started to creep across Spock's limbs and he looked at his hands in confusion. Confusion quickly turned into disbelief as he realized his atoms were being ripped apart and re-located. Obviously someone managed to lock onto them with the transporter at the last possible minute.

Spock dared to smile, knowing that no one could see. McCoy's earlier good humor held some truth – when they had each other, no force in the universe seemed to be able to take them on. The Vulcan looked back to McCoy to take in some more of his bewilderment before they cleared the Carnival; but instead of sharing happiness, Spock's face fell. McCoy's signal was not included in the beam out - Bones had no idea that they were leaving without him.

Spock wanted to scream for McCoy to realize, but all that came out of his mouth was a stream of hectic bubbles. Just as his eyes melted into a stream of white light, the Science Officer realized that the doctor had been left behind.

Then there was chaos.

The shifting lights of the Transporter room - The clap of water striking synthetic walls - the collective gasp of Starfleet officers were doused with the tidal wave they captured - the heavy wet thud as bodies hit the transporter dais - the slap of medical heels on wet flooring - the squelch of a soaked uniform on reinforced glass - The First Officer practically throwing himself from prone to standing in the direction of the console…

"Spock!" cried a dripping Scotty as he tried to figure out just what the hell his senior officer was trying to do. Nurse Chapel went from the Captain's side to the Vulcan with the kind of super-human speed medical officers were known for. "Mr. Spock, please refrain from moving!"

Dials and sliding levers were being manipulated before anyone could blink. Spock shot Chapel a sideways glance that seemed to make her hand stop reaching for the hypospray. "McCoy is back there." In the second it took to voice the statement, the room fell silent. Spock erupted into a coughing fit, but continued the explanation as he worked. "He was only a few yards from the co-ordinates you used to rescue the C-Captain, Zira and myself." Spock did the necessary adjustments for locking onto McCoy's position in his head. "Please clear the transporter… NOW."

In one mad scramble, Scotty, Chapel and two medical aids managed to drag both Kirk and Vienna clear just as another body of water appeared before them. It broke as the first did, showering the room with more moisture and even knocking Chapel on her back; but Spock wasn't paying attention to his surroundings – only the limp form on the transporter pad.

Vienna was sprawled half on the dais and half off of it. Her lovely eyes were wide and staring into a world they could no longer fathom. Chapel didn't even make a move for her when she locked onto the drowned CMO. Both Spock and the senior nurse staggered to the doctor and began to assess the situation.

"He's not breathing." Chapel said with a strong detached voice. Her hands went to his throat, his hands and then finally his chest as she began CPR. After twelve seconds her hands were shaking and she could barely gather the strength required to pump the air she was feeding him out of his lungs. There wasn't even a flutter of a heart beat, or the warmth of his flesh. McCoy's blood was mixing with the water on the transporter pad, dying everything a bright scarlet.

A firm hand grasped her shoulder and she looked up into Spock's eyes.

"Please, let me. Tend to Jim, but leave your med-kit."

Like a ghost Chapel shied away and watched as Spock took her position and hovered over McCoy like an angel of death. He took her medical tools one by one out of her kit and started to cut away at the doctor's shirt. She couldn't bring herself to observe any longer for tears were starting to collect in the corners of her eyes, and as a medical practitioner McCoy would have scolded her. She made her way to the Captain who was by some miracle still alive and being bound to a stretcher.

Spock blew as much life as he could into the still form beneath him. Every ounce of will the First Officer had went into the air they now shared. Still, McCoy's lips were cold and his lungs would not take. His wound bubbled where the worst of the damage was. Immediately Spock concentrated on using the derma-plasts to try and patch the areas that were too much for the field regenerator. When the air stopped seeping through the doctor's respiratory system, Spock tried CPR again. After several gas exchanges, McCoy's eyes fluttered and he threw up all over the dais.

Scotty and Chapel let out the breaths they didn't even know they were holding.

Spock grabbed McCoy gently by the back of the head and forced him to look in his direction so that he could discern if Bones' was indeed coming around. The doctor looked very disorientated, but managed to focus on the brown eyes boring into his own. "S-Spock…?"

"Are you all right doctor?"

The words seemed to take a second to sink in. McCoy's head rolled around in Spock's grip to get a look of where he was. He raised a bloodied hand and appraised the vomit that now coated it. "Just… damn… I- I thought I was… I- I didn't throw up on you did I?"

"No, you did not."

There was an awkward moment where all they could do was stare at each other. Bones eventually broke the silence.

"Missed then…" He let out a gurgled breath. Spock continued to cradle his head as the aids came over and started to move the battered doctor onto a gurney. McCoy batted at a few arms, but no one paid any attention to his feeble protests. "Is Jim all right?"

Chapel discharged a few hypo sprays into Bones' neck then frowned at the skin there. It was starting to bubble from all the attention in the last twenty-four hours. Meanwhile, Scotty appeared to answer the question with a jolly grin. "The Captain is right as rain and you too if you stop ya chatterin'"

"Are you telling me to relax? After what I've been through? Scotty I'm going to… oh… my… twinkling lights."

He never did get to finish that sentence as his head lolled and the medical team wasted no time ushering their newest patient out of the transporter room. It was now Spock's turn for attention as the nurse and the engineer set their eyes on him.

"What is this?" Nurse Chapel murmured in a hushed voice as her fingers traced the jewel embedded into Spock's chest. The Vulcan took a step back to relieve himself of Chapel's touch. "It is mineral which amplifies telepathic abilities. Do you think it would be possible to remove?"

Chapel looked uncertain, "I'd have to examine it first…"

The janitorial staff entered the transporter room and gave a look of utter dismay at the state of the floor. Scotty gave them an apologetic look, "Well, it could be worse…"

"Two dead bodies, puke, water, blood…" One of them said in awe, "How could it be worse?"

Spock crept over to the form of Zira. She was indeed deceased. Chapel followed him and kneeled beside the corpse. The nurse gently rolled her head over in her fingers to get a look at the dart still embedded in her eye."Is she the one that caused the devastation down there?"

"Thousands dead, because one woman wished to feel." Spock looked momentarily disgusted before masking it with his usual countenance. "Had she been in control of her emotions, this would never have happened."

The nurse stared at Spock's profile and stood to her full height – not taking her bright blue eyes off him for a second. "Had you been in control of your emotions, we would be requiring a new chief medical officer right now."

The Vulcan didn't acknowledge the woman with his eyes and instead chose to make his way to the door. It was almost juvenile the way he opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it as he rephrased what he was originally going to say. "I do not see the point of your argument."

Chapel sighed and followed after him with the hope of getting him to enter sick bay without the need of a security team. "My point is, emotions can lead to horrific things such as the carnage you and the others suffered through; but it can also lead to saving the ones you care about. How do you think the Captain manages to keep us all alive each and every day? He would die before letting someone destroy everything he holds dear, and I like to think a little bit of that rubbed off on you."

"Illogical. Personality traits cannot be transmuted through friction."

A knowing smile flitting across her lips as Spock's tone softened with his last statement. "What ever you say Mr. Spock." Christine dropped any further elaboration on the subject and guided him into the medical ward with a strong arm. Before Spock knew it, he had Dr. M'Benga and several other medical staff hovering around him with various torture devices and tricorders at the ready. They began to record his every ailment and set about mending them with co-ordinated precision. In only two hours, all three injured senior staff members were slumbering dreamlessly beneath hospital blankets, the monitors beeping happily above them from time to time.

Nurse Chapel smiled at each of them in turn, and turned out the lights in the recovery room before diving into the large stack of paperwork McCoy wouldn't be able to get around to filling out for the next few days.

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Epilogue

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Two days later, once all the paperwork and Starfleet hails had stopped their onslaught, Spock was staring blearily at the drink in his hand. "I thought you said this was standard meal supplement 12, but I believe I have the distinct impression of cocoa on my palette."

The three senior officers of the Enterprise were currently lounging in their respective bio-beds, having the first hour in the last few days to themselves without someone taking their statement or pushing a report on them. Jim and Bones were giggling like school boys at the look of disgust their Vulcan friend was aiming at his glass of liquid-protein. "Relax Spock; it's to fill that empty hole in your chest."

"Then I assume there is chocolate in this?" The science officer said with an air of defeat.

"Face it Spock, you should have drank it last time I had offered it to you. Then I wouldn't have been tempted to bribe Christine to – ow! Just where do you think your sticking that thing?" McCoy said tersely as nurse Chapel retracted a hand from beneath his blankets. There was a mischievous smirk on her face that seemed to get wider the longer her boss was in her care.

"Your neck is still recovering, so I had to seek out other suitable areas. Besides, you promised me you'd be a good patient today."

Bones grumbled obscenities under his breath as he sat back against his pillows. "Is that what I've been doing to people? Hovering around like a black fly proddin' and pokin' places best left alone…?"

The sarcasm was lost as both Spock and Kirk answered in tandem, "Yes."

They all laughed for a solid minute before Chapel left them alone to rest and Kirk fell heavily against his bed. "Well… I have to say, it's good to be alive." The smile from their joking just wouldn't seem to fade. Jim wasn't sure if it was the drugs or the high off surviving such a mess. He drank in the happy faces of his comrades anyway, before he continued, "Bones are you going to hold onto that tranquilizer gun?"

"Damn right I am. I'm planning to use it against any unreasonable Vulcans I find skipping their physicals."

"Vulcans are never unreasonable."

Bones threw a pillow at Spock and curled up with the remainder. The act surprised Spock and he looked at the object with confusion.

"Shut up and let me sleep."

"I had not intended on keeping you up with idle chatter."

"Doin' a good job of it…" The doctor grumbled as Jim chuckled at their antics. "Now now boys, its time for some shut eye. Spock stop needing to get in the last word, and Bones… as a favor to the crew, you need to get your beauty sleep." Kirk rolled over and drew the blankets close. He listened as his friends replied in their own unique fashions -Bones with some juvenile name calling that no one took seriously, and Spock with a general 'Good night'. No one noticed the way their bodies silently orientated so that they were all facing each other before they could finally drift off to sleep. No one also noticed the way Bones and Spock looked at each other before hastily looking away and burying their faces in the Chapel-fluffed pillows. Eventually the purr of the Enterprise's engines lulled them into a quiet restful slumber.

That is until McCoy woke up eight hours later to find Spock had counter-bribed Chapel into giving him rice-gruel for breakfast.

Author's Note:

It's finally finished! Yay! I think this is the first multi-chapter story I EVER managed to complete. I'm very proud of myself. I'm hoping to clean this sucker up in the future for new readers who want to start at the beginning.

Thank-you for all the reviewers who stuck it out with me. I am FAR from the best writer on here, but I do like to fan-vomit on a page... and it's nice that some people can appreciate it. There's probably a lot of errors everywhere on this page. If you spot something amiss - ANYTHING amiss - from plot to personality to puncuation, please review or mesage me so that I can jump on it and improve. I still need to go through old chapters and work out the whole then - than thing... ugh, I'm so bad for that. Also, I am aware that I can get hyper-corny at points, especially with this chapter - but the more I read Trek novels the more I think it's justified. Damn they can get so fluffy at points.

Please give me one last review. My dream is to got this story over 100 reviews. I don't think it's possible, but a girl can dream right? Right?

See you all around~! (I'm working on a new story that's quite different from this one. Very Noir so far... it'll be in the StarTrek2009 catergory since it fits that setting betterif your interested.)

- GinTsuki