Disclaimer: I don't own anything Star Trek it is all property of Gene Roddenberry, J.J. Abrams, Paramount, and whoever else owns rights to the franchise. I am not making any profits off of this so please don't sue me.

.

Chapter 14

.

As fate had an ever peculiar way of making all things in the Universe work out the opportunity for Jim to finally face one of the only two members of his senior crew who had not yet reached out to him arrived one quiet afternoon completely out of the blue and rather painfully so. Jim had just finished up with a light lunch and had now decided to do some light cleaning around the place. He was dusting near one of the shelves that held several artifacts, mementos from some of the many worlds the Enterprise had visited throughout her travels. He was dusting with as much grace as a man such as himself possessed, which wasn't much.

Jim was oblivious that he was using a little too much force in his cleaning strokes. And unfortunately for him one of the mementos, a medium sized heavy stone statue adorned with rather sharp looking spikes all over its head somehow managed to be standing way too close to the edge of the shelf that hung right above where he was bent over, lost in his task of dusting. Now to anyone with even the most primitive knowledge about the laws of physics, it was quite clear what was about to unfold in the coming few minutes.

With each stroke of his hand an unsuspecting Jim Kirk brought the spike covered artifact closer and closer to the edge of the shelf till it's base was just about halfway out from the edge, making it so that only a little bit of force would be needed for it to tip over. And sure enough on the next stroke of his hand Jim applied a little too much force than he should have. Naturally Newton's third law kicked in, for every action there was an equal and opposite reaction. In this case Jim's action of wiping too hard one too many times caused an equal and opposite reaction in the form of the spike covered statue tipping over all the way and falling spiked head first by the pull of gravity, right onto Jim Kirk.

" Ahhhooow!" Cried out Jim as he shoulder suddenly exploded in white hot agony.

Jim instinctively reached up to his shoulder and felt his stomach clench lightly when his fingers came away wet and sticky with dark crimson liquid. Jim blinked and stared at his hand for several longs seconds. Then a dark shape caught the lower corner of his eye. Feeling the pain in his shoulder slowly radiating outwards towards the rest of his body Jim looked down and saw the spike covered statue where it had landed on the gray carpeted floor after hitting him. Several of its wicked looking spike tips were shining with dark red.

" Damn it." Hissed Jim before he forced himself into action.

With a sound of pained annoyance Jim quickly made his way to the bathroom and stood with his back to the mirror, he craned his neck over his injured shoulder to assess the damage. There was a tell-tale deep red circular stain on the light gray T-shirt he was wearing and it was slowly growing bigger with each passing second.

" Shit." Swore Jim softly. He could tell from the tears in his shirt that he probably had some deep puncture wounds to his shoulder and they were bleeding quite moderately.

Knowing that he couldn't take care of this by himself Jim sighed deep and quickly grabbed up a towel from the stack that stood on a small table by the wall he was facing. Wincing lightly Jim pressed the soft cloth to his wounded shoulder gritting his teeth at the sharp pain this action caused. With a final glance at his now towel covered shoulder in the mirror Jim hurriedly left the bathroom and then his quarters entirely. He made quick work of getting to the nearest turbo-lift and once inside he pressed the button for the deck his intended destination was located on.

As the turbo-lift began moving downward Jim hissed again from the sharp sting coming from his injured shoulder. When the door to the lift opened again Jim stepped out and rushed down the corridor towards the familiar doors of Sickbay. As he walked Jim felt his stomach tie itself into knots for a whole different reason than his fresh and very painful injury. Steeling himself Jim walked through the doors.

Dr. McCoy had been preparing a fresh batch of vitamin filled hyposprays when the sound of the Sickbay's main doors opening caught his ear. Naturally turning to see who the visitor was the Doctor gasped softly when he saw that it was one James T. Kirk.

" Jim what...?" McCoy began to ask when his voice died in his throat as Jim pulled the hand he had been using to press a towel to his shoulder with away and held it up palm out for the doctor to see.

McCoy felt his gut turn to ice within seconds as his eyes took in the deep red stains across Jim's fingers. Then McCoy's instincts as a doctor took over.

" Jesus Jim, what the hell happened?" Asked McCoy loudly as he rushed forward to Jim's side.

As he let the Doctor pull him over to one of the exam tables Jim began to explain.

" I was just cleaning the window sill in my quarters one second and the next my shoulder's exploding in pain. I reach up to see what state my shoulder is in and my hands come away bloodied. Then I see one of the statues I keep on that shelf laying on the floor nearby. This statue's the one with all those spikes on its head. It must've tipped over the edge of the shelf while I was wiping down the place and the spikes nailed me bad." Gritted out Jim as McCoy helped him climb onto the exam table.

" Damn it Jim, this looks bad. You're gonna have to loose the shirt." Said McCoy in that soft, gruff way of his as he sent Jim an apologetic look.

Despite the moderate amount of pain he was in Jim couldn't help but latch onto that voice, and it surprised him how much he had actually missed his friend deep drawl.

" Don't worry about the shirt Bones, just get the cuts fixed cause they're burning like Hell." Said Jim softly.

McCoy nodded and then paused for a second when he realized that Jim had called him " Bones" not Dr. McCoy or anything else that was formal, but the nickname that he had given him the day they had met. Battling back the wave of emotions that suddenly surged up inside of him McCoy quickly shook himself and focused on the task at hand. He nodded again to Jim and then took a step over, reaching for the small tray of medical tools by the exam table Jim was now sitting on. He grabbed up the small pair of surgical scissors and set to work.

The thin light gray material of Jim's t-shirt was no match for the surgical blades as Bones made quick work of slicing through it. Within seconds Jim found himself without a shirt. Bones immediately set to work on Jim's shoulder starting with cleaning the puncture wounds and the scratches to pale skin. Once he had finished wiping up as much blood and he could and staunched off the fresh bleeding Bones reached over and grabbed the dermal regenerator. Jim let out a soft sigh as the pain in his shoulder slowly faded away with the warm tingle of the regenerator. Seconds later Bones was shutting the regenerator off and stepping back.

" There, good as new." Said Bones with a small smile.

Jim returned the smile but it dimmed a little as he spoke.

" Thanks for fixing my shoulder Bones, but I think that you and I still got some other, more important things that need fixing." Said Jim softly. Bones sobered as well and nodded as he spoke.

" Yeah we do. How about I get you a shirt and then we can go to my office?" He asked hopefully.

" Yeah, that'd be fine." Said Jim quietly.

Bones quickly went off to get Jim something to wear, he returned a few seconds later and handed Jim the top of a pair of medical scrubs. Jim quickly donned the offered garment and hoisted himself off the exam table. Once on his own two feet he followed a somber looking Bones to the CMO's personal office. Once they were inside Bones closed the door and locked it for good measure. He turned to Jim and gestured to the small couch by the office's one small window. Jim nodded and together they made their way over to it and took their seats, facing each other.

There was a long bout of painfully awkward silence before Bones finally spoke.

" So, I hear Chekov was the first one to apologize to you." He began evenly enough although inside his heart was pounding inside his chest with the nervousness he was feeling.

" Y-Yeah, the kid brought me lunch one day right out of the blue. I let him in and after we had settled down to eat I told him that I wasn't mad at him anymore. The moment I said it though the Kid just burst into tears and all but tackled me, apologizing in Russian like there was no tomorrow. All though I appreciated the hug, blubbering was not a good look on Chekov. After he let go we finished up lunch and he left. Apparently Chekov had been the one to test out the waters with me because after him, Sulu, Scotty, and Uhura all came forward with their own versions of apologies. Now that I am here with you this just leaves one crew member who has yet to face me." Said Jim quietly.

Bones winced a little because he knew who it was Jim was referring to. Licking his dry lips the Doctor finally spoke.

" I'm sorry I didn't come and face you myself. You had to get hurt like you did today for us to actually sit down and talk with each other." He said, meaning every word and feeling disappointed in himself for not reaching out first.

" Well I was pretty harsh when I gave you guys my orders after I woke up. I can understand you guys not wanting to get your heads bitten off." Said Jim.

" No Jim, I shoulda been the first one to come and see you, regardless of how angry you were and probably still are at me." Insisted Bones.

Jim sighed deeply and then leaned back against the couch, his eyes staring up at the ceiling while an over all saddened expression took hold of his features.

" I'm not all that angry at you anymore Bones, but all the shit you and the others a pulled on me after it happened still hurts like Hell." He said quietly before turning his gaze to Bones and continuing.

" You're my best friend Bones and you're a Doctor to boot, I thought that you at the very least would've asked some questions instead of jumping on the bandwagon of ' Yes Jim Kirk is a cheating man whore'."

" Now hold it right there Jim, you are not a man whore so don't you dare go off calling yourself that cause I won't stand for it." Said Bones fiercely before he saddened once again and continued speaking.

" What the Hell, who am I to say that to you cause that is exactly what I did do, what I did think excluding the whole man whore part." Sighed Bones as he to leaned back against the couch.

" It's... It has been really hard dealing with all of this. Every day I keep asking myself how this could all have happened to me. I keep wondering why he did it, what was he gonna gain from it all. I keep remembering the look of Spock's face when I came home after, I keep remembering how quickly he packed up all of his things and left me standing there all by myself. I keep seeing the way everyone looked at me when I came onto the bridge that morning. I just can't stop myself from feeling it all, from the glares I got, to the way It'vek's nails had dug into my shoulder on the observation deck. I keep f-feeling it all, and I just want it to stop. I want to be able to fall asleep on my own and not be afraid, to not have to use a sleep aid so that I don't have to see it all in my head. I'm starting to let all of you guys back in but a part of me is just so afraid that something else is gonna happen and you guys are gonna pull the same shit with me. I know this wasn't my fault but I still feel guilty about it all." Gritted out Jim as tears gathered in his eyes.

Swallowing thickly against the tightness in his own throat, Bones breathed in deep and forced his voice to work.

" What... What do you mean you still feel guilty about it all, this was never your fault Jim." He said gruffly.

" I should've realized that something just wasn't right with that Antarian son of a bitch. I should've noticed that my drink had been spiked. I should've fought harder, driven him off a me somehow. I should've made Spock listen to me instead of just standing there like I had. And maybe I should've been more responsible growing up so that my reputation wouldn't have come back to rip me to shreds like it did. I should've done something, anything to keep what I had. Instead it all got smashed to pieces. I'm the Captain of this star ship and yet I haven't done anything for nearly a month now, my crew's trying to make amends with me but it's just so hard, and the relationship I was in for ten months, almost a year is just gone. I am still so angry at Spock and his Goddamn logic but at the same time I want him back, and I wanna tell him I still... I just... I..." Jim trailed off as his voice suddenly gave out on him. He brought a hand up to his face to cover his burning eyes and turned his face away from Bones.

It was probably one of the most horrible things Bones had ever had to witness in all his life as he watched his best friend shatter to pieces before his very eyes. Not being able to stand it for another second Bones gritted his teeth hard and reached out swiftly.

" Damn it Jim." He whispered tightly as he hooked an arm under Jim's neck and yanked his distressed best friend to him.

Jim resisted for a whole of about one second before he let Bones pull him across the couch and into his arms. Bones wrapped his arms tightly around Jim's shoulders, holding his best friend to his chest. Jim for his part sat stiffly in Bones's arms for several seconds before with a small whisper of a sob he melted into the tight embrace and let himself soak up the warmth and comfort the Doctor was giving him. Resting his cheek against the crook of Bones's arm, Jim reached up and griped that same arm tightly with his hands.

" I am so sorry Jim for everything that I myself put you through. God I am so sorry." Whispered Bones as he tightened his already bear trap like grip around the man.

Jim merely nodded in acknowledgement and let the tears fall freely from his eyes in silence as he clung to Bones. He sniffled every now and then but otherwise did not make a sound.

As they sat there in the relative silence of the Bones's officer, the two men couldn't help but feel a sense of peace wash over them. This was good, this was real good. They were on the way to mending their friendship which was all they could ask for and more.

But as he sat there Jim couldn't help but think about the one person he had yet to forgive. The one who would be the most hardest to do so.

" Spock." Thought Jim longingly as he too tightened his hold on Bones and sank further into the embrace he was sharing.

Indeed, it was gonna be hard when he inevitably had to face his First Officer who if he was totally honest with himself, he was still madly in love with despite everything that had happened.

It was gonna be so hard, almost impossible. Almost.