.o0o.
"What is it?" Kirk growled into the comm unit.
"Captain, you had better get up here." Kirk glanced at McCoy as if for a moment contemplating ignoring his duties in favor of staying with his friend, then stormed out of the room.
'I'm going to get something to eat." McCoy said aloud while the nurse's were distracted with other patients. He had this unbearable craving for Plomeek Soup again. It brought his thoughts immediately back to Spock. The Vulcan was conscious, but in pain, and the doctor was disturbed to find that he didn't feel any worry. McCoy plodded along the hallway, closing out Spock so he could hear his own thoughts bouncing around his head. But each time he thought up something new, his emotions would slide away. Spock might have enjoyed it if he were in his shoes, but McCoy was out of sorts.
Quickly sitting down with his prize, McCoy dug into his soup, realizing he was ravenous and finally for solid food and not other people's emotions. He was halfway through his second serving when the Captain plopped down opposite of him. "Thought you'd still be in Sickbay."
It occurred to McCoy then that he'd left without getting a proper check-over. It wasn't like him; he'd have pitched a fit if one of his patients had done that. "I was hungry."
"Uh-huh."
"I was really hungry." McCoy scrunched up his face. With his emotions draining off as fast as they could come, it was hard to make decisions properly. "What's going on?" He tried changing the subject.
"We're going after the ship of Romulans that took you. Sulu lost track of them for a while, but we got them again. Almost dragged your sorry butt out of Sickbay to help, but here you are."
"They're likely to be near other Romulan ships. It could be too dangerous to go on."
"What's wrong with you?" Kirk's face tightened into a puzzled frown.
"The baby is eating my brain. I can't think clearly."
"Sounds to me like you're thinking too clearly." Kirk paused like he wasn't sure how to go on. "You just suggested we don't rescue Spock."
"No, just that we rescue him at a different time." McCoy shoveled more soup into his mouth.
"This is the best shot we have at getting him back. That's why I already told Komack where he can shove it." Kirk wasn't eating, he was just fidgeting like he didn't know what to do with himself. He obviously wanted to ask something personal. "What about you?"
"I'm going to have an abortion."
"What?" Kirk said, surprised, "That's not like you at all." He frowned again. "I know you don't often agree with abortions."
"This child was conceived without my knowledge and against my will. It's also negatively affecting my health. I'm not sure why you'd think I'd want to keep it."
"That... makes sense." Kirk admitted haltingly.
"I'm not a bleeding heart." McCoy grunted as he picked up his dishes.
Whether Kirk intended to disagree or not, the comm went off demanding his attention. "Kirk here."
"Captain," it was Scotty in control of the bridge now. "We've tracked the ship into orbit around a class M planet, but there do not appear to be any Romulans aboard the ship or down on the planet."
"How can that be?"
"There's an ion storm around here. It may be disrupting our sensors."
"Send a security team to the transporter room, We'll be beaming over to the Romulan ship immediately."
"No need, Captain." Scotty responded. "There must have been a secondary explosion. The ship is badly damaged and losing atmosphere. If he's alive, he'll be on the planet."
"Send a security team, Chekov and an operations officer." Kirk clicked off the comm. "He's still alive, right?"
"Yeah." McCoy acknowledged, as if realizing for the first time that Kirk wouldn't know that. "I'm coming, too."
"You're not in good shape."
"Doctor cleared me."
"You can't clear yourself."
"I can help you find him."
"Fine. We're leaving now." Kirk didn't seem happy about it, but McC oy was not going to be left off this mission and the Captain clearly understood that. McCoy followed him from the room and to the transporter.
It took less than ten minutes to get them all gathered on the planet's surface. They appeared with phasers out and nearly dropped them at the sight before them.
"It's beautiful."
"It makes me homesick. Just like Russia." Chekov proclaimed.
"More like the Garden of Eden." McCoy corrected.
"The Garden of Eden was right outside of Moscow." Chekov stated, earning odd looks all around.
"Be careful." Kirk warned. "The Romulans could be anywhere."
A plant suddenly shot one of the guards in the chest. McCoy hurried toward their fallen comrade, while everyone else looked around and drew their weapons closer to their chests. "Dead." McCoy proclaimed. "Poison, not Romulans." He added.
"I'm getting too much interference from this ion storm to get any good readings." Chekov announced.
"Bones?"
McCoy looked up for a moment before realizing what Kirk had in mind. He stretched out his mind for Spock's and nearly doubled over in pain. He grit his teeth until it passed. "That way. And we'd best be quick."
"Prepare your weapons. There will undoubtedly be Romulans around." Kirk considered as he offered McCoy a hand up. "We'll head in that direction."
The group walked a distance, careful to avoid any flowers bearing any resemblance to the first one they'd seen. It was slow going and everyone was on edge, each wondering what else they might run into. Finally, the operations officer, Martha, announced quietly that there was someone following them.
"Romulan?" Chekov asked.
Kirk shook his head. "We'd be dead if it were. No, something else." Kirk paused. "Keep an eye on it and anything else out of the ordinary."
Another ten minutes passed before Martha discovered something else of interest. She picked up a rock and McCoy wanted to slap her for wasting time, and then the feeling was gone. "Extremely low specific gravity, some uraninite, hornblende, quartz." She shifted it around and it snapped in half. "Fragile. Good cleavage." She tossed it away from the group and it exploded on the ground behind them. "Obviously highly unstable." She added.
"Watch where you throw those things!" Kirk demanded.
"Sorry, sir."
They walked on in relative silence for the rest of the trip until they arrived at what looked like a small village. And there were the Romulans guarding a primitive group of people with bleach blonde hair and strange colored skin. Their outfits resembled someone playing the part of a Hawaiian without having seen one. The Romulans were cornering them into one of the shelters. And there, in the center of the village, was Spock, tied to a pole. McCoy's heart beat a little faster at his disheveled and injured state.
"Bones?" Kirk asked, clearly concerned about his companion, "Don't go running in there." Or maybe just his reputation for irrational behavior.
"We need a plan." McCoy announced.
"Right. McCoy and I will grab Spock while the rest of you provide a distraction around the opposite side of the village. Throw some rocks or something."
The group nodded their assent and McCoy waited impatiently with Kirk while the others made their way around the site. Finally, after what felt like hours, a series of five explosions resounded across the valley and the Romulans flocked towards the noise.
"That's our cue." Kirk chirped, moving towards the action. McCoy shot up with him. As they neared Spock, Kirk shot down two Romulans and McCoy stunned the other one. He fell to his knees beside the Vulcan, taking his pulse while he pulled out his medical tricorder. Spock didn't respond to the ministrations. His pulse was thready, unsteady. He was ashen and somehow still losing blood, despite the numerous semi-healed wounds.
"We've got to get him back to the ship, now!" McCoy ordered.
Kirk flipped open his communicator as the demand was being made, shooting another Romulan as they came out of the building and fired a shot that had blood dripping from his arm. "Three to beam up and a med team to transport."
"I can't beam you up." Scotty protested. "I have no idea how beaming through an ion storm could affect you."
"Do it anyway." Kirk growled and then there was the tingle of the transporter. It was a rough ride, as one might have guessed from Scotty's hesitation. They appeared on the Enterprise several times before they solidified. And there was no med team.
"Goddammit." McCoy growled. They hoisted Spock's weight between them and carried him down the hall, receiving alarmed but unsurprised looks along the way. Spock being injured rarely surprised anyone anymore. He must have been out cold as McCoy wasn't absorbing anything from him, nor could he access his mind.
They made it into the almost empty Sickbay. Chapel looked up to see them enter and her eyes widened at Spock's limp form.
Spock looked the worse for wear on the biobed. One of his arms dangled awkwardly in what even Kirk's unprofessional eyes would see was dislocated or broken. McCoy suspected his clothes hid a plethora of other injuries. McCoy was relieved upon examining him that the wounds were mostly superficial with the glaring exception of a fresh stab wound which was costing him a lot of blood.
McCoy worked fervently for a time and, with the help of Chapel, was able to get Spock stabilized. He sighed a breath of relief as Spock began to rouse. Kirk moved over to Chapel to have his arm looked at.
McCoy almost wished he had stayed. Spock was giving him a look that said they would be having that conversation he'd been trying to avoid, even as the Vulcan was subjected to medical treatment. McCoy contemplated sedation. He couldn't stand the thought of himself being pregnant, let alone the awkward discussion that was bound to follow.
'Talking about it may help you resolve some of your unease.' Spock's voice helpfully chimed into his head.
'Somehow, I doubt you would appreciate that advice if our roles were reversed.'
'I am uncertain why you think this. I have often found our conversations... insightful.'
'No offense, but I doubt you have much insight on male pregnancy.'
'The first male pregnancy for a human male is recorded as Charles Tucker III. He, also, was impregnated by a nonhuman species. His-'
'I really don't need a history lesson, Spock.' Spock's face didn't move, but McCoy could tell that there was a brief spike of pain from what he was doing. McCoy grit his teeth. 'What I need is to not be pregnant. Particularly with a life-draining, emotion-sucking... This can't be happening.'
Spock seemed to run out of words and instead fed relaxing and calm feelings to McCoy. For a moment, it seemed to work, and then the baby at up those feelings as well. McCoy could have screamed in frustration, but a moment later, he couldn't.
'I can't do this.' McCoy ground out. He then considered for the first time that this child was Spock's as well. 'What do you want?'
Spock seemed to consider for a long time before giving, 'My mother would be pleased.'
'And you?'
'It is your decision to make.'
McCoy frowned, how was he supposed to take that?
The emotions in the room suddenly shifted and McCoy looked up to see Scotty pointing a phaser at them. It was set to kill.
.o0o.