Doctor McCoy returned to the Enterprise confused and a bit worst for ware. He had gotten lost (again) as he tried to make his way out of the dense forest which surrounded Ziggy's home and back to civilization, or a cheap imitation of the aliens creation. He was an old fashion kind of guy and tried to avoid having his atoms spread across the skies as much as possible. But with some kind of plant jellyfish thing attached to his arm, five different unidentifiable scratches on his face and three bleeding tears of flesh on his legs, McCoy gave up and called for the Enterprise.
"McCoy here. Beam me up before I begin a forest fire and destroy this god forsaken place!"
"One to beam up," the technician said. "Don't move."
"Where else am I gonna go? Mars?!"McCoy muttered, rolling his eyes as he began to dissolve and reappear on the transporter pad in the Enterprise. He gave the young man behind the glass screen a nod of thanks and then headed to Sick Bay. The jellyfish trailed behind him as he practically ran, a black bottle in his hand. He made it to sickbay in record time and, pushing aside Nurse Chapel, he ran to Jim's room and declared, jellyfish forgotten, "I've got it!"
Ziggy turned to McCoy unimpressed and said, "what do you want? A medal? It wasn't a herculean task, you know. I could have beamed down and gotten it in half the time it took you, Doctor."
"Oh, thank you, Doctor! Without you beaming down to the wrong coordinates and being attacked by wild plants and weird jelly things, we would have never gotten this black bottles to save Jim's life!" McCoy said sarcastically, holding the bottle out to Ziggy. "What now, alien?"
"Now, I drink it and meditate," Ziggy replied taking the bottle and uncapping it. "Bottoms up!" He tilted his head and swallowed the substance inside the bottle that had taken McCoy hours to find.
"You son of a –" McCoy cried out. "You said that was for Jim!"
"No," Ziggy said, wagging a thin finger in the doctor's direction. "I said I needed a bottle, you implied it was for Jim. Now if you please," he pushed aside the doctor and sat beside Jim's bed, next to Spock. "Mister Spock I'm going to have to ask you to leave whilst I do this."
"What are you going to attempt to do?" Spock asked as he stood. "Why is it required of me to leave?"
"And why did you need that bottle for?" McCoy added, standing next to Spock at the foot of Jim's bio bed.
"I will attempt to do something my people have long since forgotten how to do." Ziggy took a hold of Jim's hand. "I will attempt to read his body chemistry. The contents of the bottle will allow me to drown out anything and everything besides Jim's life signs and body movements. It allows me to concentrate on each and every process going on in his body."
"How?" Spock asked.
"It is not a simple process nor is it a very pretty one which is why I must ask you, Mister Spock, to leave." Ziggy turned to the men, his eyes becoming white. "Leave us now. I will not harm Jim, it is my fault he is here and I will rectify this."
"Your fault? How is this your fault?"
"I drove you and Jim together too soon," Ziggy said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Jim was not ready. I must fix this…"
Spock and McCoy exited the room and go to the doctor's office without a word. By now, word had spread of Jim's condition and people kept coming into the main room of the sick bay to ask about Jim's condition. McCoy had no time to talk to these people, not when his best friend was unconscious and in a coma. It was odd, that. How could one accidental overdose, because McCoy chose to believe Jim hadn't done this on purpose, take the life of his best friend? Hell, it hadn't even been a lot of alcohol! He'd seen Jim down bottles of beer without even blinking and wake up the next morning ready to ace tests and flirt with women. Shit is finally catching up to you, Jimbo, McCoy thought as he sat down behind his desk and sighed, or maybe someone had something to do with it.
"Spock, what did you and Ziggy talk about while I was gone?"
"We spoke of many things, Doctor," Spock snapped. McCoy cocked an eyebrow at the Vulcan and stood, his medical tricorder in his hand. He approached Spock as delicately as an elephant approaching a lion, tricorder out and taking readings. The Vulcan pushed – pushed! – McCoy away with the tip of his fingers and said, "I am in perfect health, Doctor. It is Jim who is sick."
"I beg to differ," McCoy insisted. "Let me look you over, Spock. You were holding Jim's hand while I was gone. Maybe some of his madness went into your head. With your Vulcan fingers bein' all telepathic it could be possible."
Spock took a deep breath, his eyes closing for a split second before turning to McCoy and saying, "A sound analysis but I assure you I am in perfect health." He took a seat in front of the doctor's desk. "My heart rate is normal, my body temperature is normal. There is nothing wrong with me."
"And yet my tricorder says the opposite," McCoy said with a scowl. "Your body temp is ten below what you green blooded hobgoblins call normal, your heart rate is… 220 beats per minute. I'm not an expert but I'm sure that isn't normal, Spock. Now just relax."
"There is nothing wrong with me," Spock insisted.
"And I say there is!"
"Doctor -"
"Jim will never forgive me if I let somethin' happen to you while he's unconscious, so let me take some more readings." McCoy glared at Spock even if his words were not harsh. Spock opened his mouth to say something but McCoy cut him off, "You and him sure are alike."
"Excuse me?" Spock asked his head tilted to the side in curiosity. There were obvious differences between the captain and he, how were they alike?
"You and Jim," McCoy muttered, his eyes glued on the tricorder as he took more readings. "He never wants me to treat him, not willingly at least. I thought it was his stubbornness and cockiness but now I see what is actually is. Boy, you two really deserve each other."
Once again, Spock was not clear on what the doctor meant. "I do not comprehend, doctor."
"Neither does he," McCoy responded putting the tricorder down and sighing. "Well, it seems like I was wrong. You are all normal now. But you should go and rest for a bit. Meditate or whatever you call it. I'll even let you borrow my office because I know you'll just be calling down here every ten minutes askin' for Jimbo's condition." He shook his head. "You are just as annoying as he is, I swear to god."
Six point three eight hours later, Ziggy emerged from Jim's room looking like he had aged ten years. Upon entering McCoy's office with the doctor in tow, he collapsed and almost hit the floor if it wasn't for Spock. The Vulcan has been meditating but had not entered deep mediation. He was aware enough to be able to sense when the doctor and Ziggy had entered the room.
It took another three hours for Ziggy to come out of his sleep and even then he was too tired to speak coherently. In the meantime, Spock remained by Jim's side. Whilst he appeared to be sleeping, there were barely any life signs coming from his body. He was alive yet on the verge of dying. The way Doctor McCoy explained it, Jim's body was alive but something prevented him from waking up. He was in a coma and no one knew why.
Another strange thing was happening; Spock was having a hard time keeping his emotions in check. Twice he felt the need to cry, his eyes even becoming moist. But it was illogical to cry and Vulcan's had no tear ducts so therefore he could not cry. But he felt the need much like the need he felt to touch Jim, yet another illogical thing.
As a Vulcan, Spock was a touch telepath, which seemed to be unknown to his body. Even if he tried to meditate, his hand would end up touching Jim in some way before Spock even realised it. He had to touch Jim or else he physically hurt, yet another impossibility since he was not injured in any way. Finally, he called for Doctor McCoy, explaining his situation whilst holding Jim's hand.
"So let me get the straight," Doctor McCoy said. "Your feeling, like your feeling feeling, and you can't stop touching Jim." Spock nodded. "Well that explains why you're fondling his hand like that."
"I cannot stop myself," Spock replied, sternly. "If I let go my body aches. It is not a physical ache. The pain is just present for however long I am without Jim's touch. I have also gone through a number of scenerios in my head and none seem-"
"You coulda just asked me," a voice behind Doctor McCoy said, startling the doctor. Ziggy stepped into the room, the door sliding behind him noiselessly. Spock should have been able to hear Ziggy the moment he came near the door, yet another thing that confused him.
McCoy and Spock stared at Ziggy as he made his way to Jim's bedside on the other side of Spock. The alien said nothing, his hand shakily reaching out to touch Jim's forehead like an old Terran custom of checking someone's temperature by touch. The room was silent for a few minutes whilst Ziggy did various things from touching Jim's hand and chest to checking his pulse and sniffing this neck. McCoy blinked at the various strange things but said nothing. Spock held on to Jim's hand harder and sat down.
Finishing up, Ziggy clapped his hands together and said, "He's broken. He then walked away, leaving McCoy and Spock to watch as he left the room. McCoy took one look at Jim's hand in Spock's and said, "I'll just go ask him what he means then since you're all busy and whatnot."
"Thank you," Spock said softly, his eyes back on the unconscious Jim.
McCoy found Ziggy in his office, hands cradling his head. He said nothing to the alien; he looked guilty enough already. The question was why did he look so guilty and why was he trying so hard to save a man he had barely met? McCoy no longer felt anger (if one could have called it that) about having been sent down to the planet, bitten by a jellyfish (which he called Jim the Fish and was currently keeping in his quarters) and needing a skin graph for a particularly nasty scratch he had gotten only to get a bottle of something that did nothing but put the guy in a trance. It was basically a drug; any doctor could see a stoner - even an alien one. And yet, looking at him now, McCoy saw an exhaustion coming from the alien that only a guilty conscious could give. He was trying to save Jim and for that reason, McCoy got out a bottle from his stash behind his desk and planted a glass in front of Ziggy.
"Drink up," he told him as he poured. "Doctor's orders."
Ziggy's head released itself from the confines of his hands and he sighed. He picked the drink up, downed it in one gulp and put the glass down gently, a small hiss erupting from his pale lips. His eyes, although strange to begin with, looked sad, remorseful even as he looked at McCoy.
"I'm sorry for all the pain and worry I've caused," he said. "I had my reasons but now they just sound like rubbish after all of this."
McCoy poured him another drink. "What reasons were those?"
"I've lived on Neukoln for centuries, alone with just my thoughts and memories. I've tried to recreate Anthea without succession. With all of my abilities and knowledge I've yet to discover a way to leave the planet." Ziggy cradled his drink. "You know of my past, yes?" McCoy nodded, remembering Jim's fascination with the alien that night after their return. "Well that's all it will ever be, my past. And then you came in your big ship full of wondrous technologies and stories of world like my own, of new people, of new everything. I might be an alien to you, even if my appearance has been altered to look human, but I am very much alive. I would be remiss of the joys of life if I wasn't overjoyed to be leaving this place for new adventures.
"I felt that the only way I could repay your captain and first officers was to show them what was obviously between them - their love for one another. My people cherished love above all else. I saw the spark between them, the shared loving looks, and the concerned for one another. In their shared dream state they even shared a loving moment. So once on board the Enterprise, I began my plan which has resulted in this disaster." He downed his drink and shook his head as he placed the glass down. "I beamed down to my planet, got a solution I made myself that would essentially bring all of Kirk's feelings to the forefront of his thoughts in hopes that he and Mr Spock would get together. But I was wrong."
McCoy sat dumbfounded. The dumb bastard wanted to get an emotionally unstable human with an emotionless Vulcan and expected no repercussions? Really?
"So you didn't expect your matchmaking to give Jim a coma and Spock all unstable?" McCoy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "They might have some homoerotic tension between them, yes, but that doesn't mean they should be together. Jim is unstable at his best and Spock… well, he's a Vulcan, together they would be either horribly cute in a I-want-to-burn-my-eyeballs-out or in a never ending fight that will end up with someone dead or leaving this ship. You-"
"Spock is unstable?" Ziggy interrupted standing up from his seat and looking like someone had just placed a gift on his lap and he couldn't wait to open it. "Please explain."
Cut off mid-thought, it took McCoy a moment to think about the question. "I – he has been having these flashes of emotions and he has this weird need to touch Jim at all times. He says it hurts him to be away from him. Also, when we left Jim's room earlier, his vitals were lower than usual for a moment and then went back to normal. Why?"
Ziggy ignored the question, walking to the door in a hurry. McCoy followed the alien out of his office and stopped with him outside Jim's room. "Tell me this, Doctor, is a Vulcan's body temperature higher or lower than a humans?"
"Lower," McCoy answered. "Why?"
"Then why did Spock say it was higher?"
"He what?"
"Would Jim know this?"
"About Spock tellin' you-"
"No, about Vulcan's having lower body temperature," Ziggy interrupted. "Would he know this?"
"I don't think so… why? Does that mean something?"
"It means I know what is wrong with Jim." With no other words, Ziggy entered the room and declared, "If you don't mind meld with Jim in the next few hours and fix his shattered mind, not only will he be lost to us but so shall you."
"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?" McCoy muttered as he came behind Ziggy.
"Perhaps, but true nonetheless," Ziggy replied.
"Explain your reasoning," Spock demanded, his hand still attached to Jim's. "I will do no such thing until I have heard your reasoning."
"Everything happens in a ying-yang, balance-out-the-world, what-you-must-do-to-one-side-you-must-do-to-the-other kind of way." Ziggy exhaled, turning to McCoy with a look that differed greatly from the man that had just been in his office. "I love dashed words!"
"I do not understand."
"Yeah," McCoy said walking around the alien and going to Jim's side, "Are you just talking nonsense or does this have a point?"
"I was trying to say that Jim and Spock are having equal and slightly opposite reactions to one another. They are one."
"Wha- what are you talking about? They aren't doing anything, have you not noticed Jim, here," McCoy said pointing to the unconscious Jim, "is in a coma and therefor cannot do anything even if he wanted to."
"Explain," was Spock's only input into the nonsense Ziggy was spewing. "It is illogical to present the idea that Jim and I are having equal and opposite reactions without presenting evidence."
"First of all your shared dreams," Ziggy said counting with his fingers. "He dreamt you were in the bar the night he decided to enrol in Starfleet and he even took you to see the Enterprise all the while thinking nasty thought about you. In your dream, you did the nasty on your anniversary. See it now? His wish is your command."
"Ugh, I did not need to picture you doing the nasty with Jim," McCoy mumbled, trying to entertain himself as much as possible monitoring Jim's vitals –which strangely had begun to spike. He was also keeping an eye on Spock's knuckles, which had begun to turn white from the crushing force in which he fisted his hand.
"Second," Ziggy continued. "While you showed me around the ship, silently wishing for me to stop wasting your time and refrain from touching you, Jim here tried to get me away from you as much as possible. Third," he extended a third long finger from his hand, "you got your facts all wrong. Fourth, whilst I was in meditation with Jim, you experience a change in your vitals. As I entered Jim – in a totally nonsexual way – his vital also changed. Fifth, you're fisted your right hand whilst holding Jim's hand"
McCoy could see Spock wasn't about to ask what the last part meant, and he was curious himself, he asked, "So what?"
"Well, my good doctor," Ziggy said with a smile. "Jim is fisting his left hand whilst holding Spock's. Equal yet opposite reactions." He made a hand gesture towards Spock who took a step towards him, his fist completely white. "Now, before you punch me in the face, how about you mind meld with Jim and fix him before you both die?"
Why was it that in the end it was always McCoy who had to convince someone to do something? Ziggy ran out of the room after Spock (very un-Spock like) growl and looked like he was about to jump the alien and tear him to pieces. The doctor didn't want to have to clean up the mess and write a report about how the ship's first Officer killed the only living survivor of a now dead planet so he intervened.
Once Ziggy was out of the room, Spock calmed down enough to sit down and think things logically. McCoy sat down on the biobed and sighed. It was a horrible way to go at it, he knew, but he couldn't loose a best friend because his Vulcan boyfriend didn't want to mind-rape him. And it would also be a horrible scenario if Jim died because some alien couldn't keep out of other people's business.
"You know you have to do it," he pointed out.
"Have you informed Star Fleet command about the Captain's condition?"
McCoy opened his mouth to say no but nothing came out. There hadn't even been a thought about Star Fleet command or everyone on shore leave finding out about Jim's condition. Those not on shore leave knew Jim had been in Sick Bay for days now but, judging from the lack of calls, it hadn't spread to the entire ship. They probably thought it was another one of Jim's allergy attacks, he reasoned.
"No one apart from us know anything," McCoy assured him.
"I will do it," Spock said. "I will mind meld with him because I cannot deny that Ziggy made some sense in his listing of observations. I am not sure what I am to do, however. If he is as broken as Ziggy claims then there is much that needs repairing and I find myself inexperienced in a situation such as this. Normally, if a Vulcan experienced anything remotely like this, a healer would be called. I am not healer."
"No," McCoy admitted, "but you are the closest thing we have." He stood to give Spock some privacy. "And you and I are the only people Jim would trust to muddle around in his brain. I can't do a mind meld so it's up to you, Vulcan."
"What if I fail and he dies?" Spock asked, as McCoy was about to exit. "What if I make Jim worst?"
"You won't."