Leonard thought the wait to hear from Jamie again was interminable as he tried to busy himself with assisting Geoff in Medbay. If he let himself think too long, it quickly became an endless litany of things that could go wrong. It took a lot of guts to take on someone as ruthless as Dir. He hoped she made it back in one piece. No, scratch that. He DESPERATELY NEEDED her to come back in one piece.
Who was he trying to fool? Leonard McCoy had fallen hard for Jamie T. Kirk and the thought of Dir getting his filthy hands on her made the man see red. He forced himself to breathe evenly and when the tide of wounded crew had ebbed, he fled to the observation deck to pace and wait. The Orion ship was dead in the air, clearly damaged. He hoped the prisoners could be saved. Leonard was prepared to go right back to Medbay and help any way he could. Memories swirled through his mind of half-starved, bruised and bleeding slaves he'd occasionally see between "customers".
Their eyes were dull and they hardly spoke. The spirit had been crushed from them after years of captivity. Leonard had thought his was, too. But the embers had been stoked back to life by the combined efforts of Jamie and Dr. Dehner, whom he was seeing twice a week. He was beginning to believe that he wasn't the filthy, worthless, used, sex object he'd firmly thought himself. No, he was a doctor, dang it, and a proud member of Starfleet.
A long hour later, Geoff called him. "Leonard, they're beaming the rescued slaves on board now. We're going to need you here." He sounded uneasy.
"I'll be right there, Geoff," Leonard replied, instantly heading for the turbo lift. "Has the captain returned yet?"
"No, but she sounded like she had things under control. They've subdued the Pirates, apparently."
Leonard closed his eyes in relief as the lift started down.
"Great. I'm on my way, Geoff."
When Leonard made it to sickbay, there was a large mixed crowd of frightened, sickly looking humans and aliens. The med staff was attempting to sort out those most urgently in need of treatment. Uhura was speaking to the various species in assuring tones and informing them they were safe. Leonard recognized Orions, Andorians, Humans, Cardassians, possible Betazoids, and species he had never seen before.
He hurried into the fray and began doing what he was born to do. There were about fifty in all, the ship not being at full capacity yet. It appeared from what the rescued people were saying that the ship had just left an auction house and they were the ones who had not sold. The regenerators were whirring continuously as wounds were treated, broken bones set, and burns repaired. Malnutrition was the main culprit, and yeomen were busy replicating nourishing soups and broths for the famished. Only a few needed to be put on IVs.
The sight that crushed Leonard the most was a barely teenaged Orion girl who was quite obviously pregnant.
"Filthy trafficking scum!" He snarled to himself. "She's still a girl!"
The poor thing was protectively clutching her tummy, looking around with wide, scared eyes. With the assistance of Gaila, the girl, who said she was fifteen, was calmed and allowed herself to be taken to an exam room where Nurse Chapel would take good care of her. Leonard knew the mood he was in would not help the girl at all so he contented himself with helping an Andorian with broken ribs instead.
As the patients were beginning to thin out and taken to temporary quarters, a triumphant Captain strode through the doors, black shirt torn, face bruised, hair sticking out every which way, but a look of incredible satisfaction on her face. Leonard thought she had never looked prettier when she fixed those flashing blue eyes on him and lit up like a rocket, practically launching herself at him.
"We did it Bones!" She proclaimed, wrapping around him like an octopus. "Dirty Dir and his cronies are in the brig. No lives were lost."
Before he could get a word in edgewise or even move his arms, she pranced away again.
"I've got to get to the bridge and report this, but I promise you the whole story when we're finished taking care of things. It was awesome, Bones! See ya!"
And she was gone again.
Leonard shook his head at her whirlwind ways, smiling to himself. Then he saw the stares he was getting from Geoff and some of the nurses.
"What?" he asked innocently. "Did I grow an extra arm?"
"No, Len," laughed Geoff, "but I think SHE'S really grown on you."
"Har, Har, Geoff, you're hilarious," Leonard grumbled mildly. But he was too happy at Jamie's success to really be annoyed.
Once everything had calmed down that evening, she met him in the quiet rec room and they settled down at an empty table. Jamie was exhausted, but she listened to his report on the condition of the rescued slaves with interest and sadness, promising to check on the pregnant teenager personally. When he was done, she hastened to alleviate his worries for her.
"First of all, Bones, I'm okay. Geoff checked me out."
"Good to hear, Jamie-girl," he responded, eyeing her carefully. "Is Starfleet giving you crap about this?"
She sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, but Spock and Pike have my back. It was an unprovoked attack in Federation territory, with a very illegal cargo. Admiral Komack will just have to get over his fear of Klingons."
"You continue to amaze me, Captain," Leonard said, shaking his head in wonder. "How did you pull it off? They've got pretty tight security in those ships."
"Scotty and Chekov beamed pairs of us to different parts of the ship," she explained, "We each secured a section, made sure the guards were stunned and cuffed, and disabled security cameras. Then I sent Shen and a redshirt to start freeing the prisoners while the rest of us dealt with Dir on the bridge. He didn't go down without a fight, that's for sure, but I know a trick or two he didn't and had him begging for mercy by the time I was through."
She smoothed a stray lock of hair away from her still grimy face, grinning with fiendish delight at the memory of the hardened Pirate groveling at her feet.
"Once we took care of him and his goons, we went to get the prisoners free and started beaming them to the Enterprise. Then we sent those slime balls straight to the brig. You should have seen Sulu kicking green butt. The man is a master at hand to hand. I'll have to take him on away missions more often."
"I'll take your word for it," Leonard drawled. "I'm just glad to have you back here safe and sound."
He squeezed the hand he held as he showed her how serious he was with his eyes. She dropped her eyes bashfully and stared thoughtfully at their hands for a minute.
"You know, Bones," she said softly, "there was one thing I should have done before I went over there and I was kicking myself for it earlier."
"What was that?" he asked her, hoping it was was similar to what he had been thinking.
"Told you how much I'm totally, completely, head-over-heels, in love with you."
Her honest declaration warmed Leonard deep down in that worn out heart of his. He got out of his seat and pulled her up with him so they were standing face to face.
"You know what would have happened, Darlin?" he said in a voice husky with emotion. "I would have told you how much I adore the ground you walk on and kissed those pretty lips of yours. It would have been awfully distractin'."
Jamie flushed and her smile got bigger as she looked up at him, blue eyes dancing with joy.
"Well, then, Bones, get on with the distracting if you're so inclined," she purred, leaning in close.
Leonard took her face in his hands and carefully kissed her cute button nose and perky chin before settling on those full lips. It was the best "distracting" he'd ever done. He felt her arms wrap around him and he reveled in the joy of kissing this woman he loved of his own free will and hers. If a few tears leaked out from the hazel eyes, well, Jamie made sure they didn't stay long.
They had a long way to go, but they'd be walking it together, he was sure of that. And to think, it all started thanks to the "generosity" of the Dwerms. Not such a bad lot after all, Leonard thought.
"How do you like your "present" now, Jamie?", he teased when they came up for air.
She giggled with her forehead against his. "Best gift ever," she whispered happily.
"I'm never giving you back."
"Good, cause I'm clearly marked 'No returns or exchanges'", he grinned back.
"Don't want anybody but you, Bones," the earnestness with which she said this made him kiss her again. They forgot everything else.
