Outside the door to the room where he knew the others would be waiting, and possibly discussing what they had seen, Czacheck took a deep breath. Captain Kirk was remembering so much and much of what he was saying reflected what he had long suspected not only about Kirk and his relationship with his First Officer but also about Captain Pellon. The final session would fully test the Captain and he knew Kirk would need assistance and support afterwards. Bringing Leonard McCoy to be there for Kirk was a risk, they were not only both officer on the same ship, they not only were friends but they were both, from all he had heard, very close friends with First Officer Spock. There could be a greater risk than. . . No. No, not again. He knew what he had to do and had the Communications Officer on the Dakota get McCoy for him on his private communicator.

"McCoy here, Doctor Czacheck. Is, is there a problem with Captain Kirk's treatment?" The concern was clear in his voice and Czacheck was aware that what he had heard of the trio was true. It was known that they were three men who had a very special friendship despite their differences. Three men who clearly knew and accepted all the dangers of pushing the boundaries of known. They were a trio that had formed a friendship that had been tempered and tested by the dangers and terrors they had to overcome. Theirs was a friendship melded by the unquestioned acceptance and trust that the complement of the Enterprise fully accepted and understood them. It was that friendship that Kirk had with McCoy that would be needed after this final session. McCoy being a doctor would also be needed by Kirk.

"No, no there is no problem with the treatment it is just that I believe you should be here for the last session as I believe he is going to need you there as a friend as he has remembered so much and yet there are still some facts he needs to face. Facts he must face in order to get back his life and you being there will likely greatly help him accept the reality. How soon can,"

"I'm on my way to the Transporter Room now. McCoy out."

As he walked to the Transporter Room at a faster pace than usual Leonard McCoy wondered what he would find when he got to the Dakota. He had heard that almost all of the patients Harold Czacheck had treated made full recoveries and were allowed back to the positions they held before with no substantial decline in proficiency and no known after-effects. He was aware there was a very small percentage who had proven to be beyond his and even Vulcan abilities and skills to treat. Many of those who had been treated by him had reported that they had relived the traumatic event in greater detail than they thought they would survive and that frightened him. As far as he knew none of them had killed their closest friend. None of them had been made to remember killing their closest friend as Jim Kirk would have been made to do. What was that doing to Jim? What was that going to do to him later? He would not only relive it all here but he would have to relive it and talk about it before a hearing on his competency. For once he was not worried about what being transported was doing to his molecules, he had to get to Jim.

When he materialized on the Dakota the first person he saw was Czacheck. Although they had never really met before in person the being standing to the side of the controls was clearly Harold Czacheck in full medical mode. There was no way to tell, just from looking at the man, just what the situation was. That was something that was well known about him, his ability to be more in control of any outward display of emotion being equal to, if not better, than even Vulcans.

"While it is nice to finally meet you, Doctor McCoy, I would have liked to have done so under better circumstances."

So many things he should say came to him but all that mattered was what he asked, "How is Captain Kirk?"

"As I told you he is remembering more and more but what is to come in this session is why he will need you here foremostly as a friend as secondarily as a doctor. While he has had the occasional loss of emotional control as the memories returned when he remembered all he had felt and seen during the event there is every possibility that, as this time he must remember all that he heard, he will have a more drastic loss of emotional control. This time he will unconsciously remember those other factors as well and athey will appear as what is termed full flashbacks. I will ask him to concentrate on just what he hears but he will have those moments when his other senses will come into play. At some stage it will be inevitable that he will also see things mainly in his mind that did happen and some things that did not happen."

Only for a moment did Czacheck stop talking, and really look at him and McCoy felt himself momentarily stop breathing as he knew what that silence was saying. It was clear that Czacheck had been watching him as he nodded, "This is usually where they will come out on top or sink beyond any retrieval. This is when patients who fully recover most need those who know them best to be with them as often facing the event, as they will have through having remembered the originating ordeal using the recall ability of their main senses, is the most traumatic. He will be in an emotionally and mentally fragile state as he accepts what happened. It is also when he will, most likely, react either most violently as he confronts what has happened or have a momentary explosive emotional outburst before withdrawing deeper into himself under a guise of acceptance that most accept."

McCoy saw the real concern about the man face and posture and heard it in his voice. Knowing of the man's experience and reputation seeing and hearing that concern only deepened his concern for Jim Kirk. Reliving killing Spock would have him in more than just a fragile state. It was hard enough for him to think of Spock as dead without thinking who had killed him but for Jim to remember and relive it was more than any being should have to endure. He had seen Jim use that guise that Czacheck mentioned but wondered if he would be able to do that with this situation as his time the one who was so able to get him to drop the pretense was no longer there. He had also known of what some of those who tried to live the lie of acceptance under that guise had done to end having to exist like that. At his core he knew that Jim Kirk would also not live under that guise.

"I am not sure how he will be if he fully remembers what happened. He and Spock were like the other half of each other even for men from such different backgrounds. It is almost impossible to think of one without thinking of the other. You mentioned he had had loss of emotional control. Was this when he remembered what he had done to Spock?"

"Yes, and he was not hesitant in expressing what he thought of me." there was a softness to his voice. As McCoy watched Czacheck shook his head, "I have one rather unusual questions to ask you. It may seem an unusual one to ask but it is essential for me to know so that I am able to help him better prepare for the future. How would you expect Kirk to react if he heard even a recording of Mister Spock's voice?"

For a moment McCoy felt totally stunned and was about to question Czacheck about his methods. A regulation suddenly flashed before him about a captain's duty upon the death of a senior officer. He, and he was sure the others, had forgotten that, as his senior officer, Jim would have to hear Spock's message about what to do with his body and belongings. "When, he, he has to hear Spock's final instructions to do with his things aboard the ship we will be there with him as to hear Spock's voice after what happened will totally shatter him."

Czaceck had nodded twice as though in answer to more than just the questions he had asked aloud. "Thank you for that. I will have you wait in this room for now. I apologize that you will only be able to hear and not see Captain Kirk to start with but as he starts to remember certain events I will allow you to see him and then will allow you access to the room. He will not know you are here until you have access to the room. You must be prepared as it will likely be difficult for you as well."

It was difficult enough right there and then for him to not say how inhumane it was and that nobody who would do it should consider themselves any sort of a doctor. The one thing that stopped him was knowing that this man knew what he was doing as he had helped so many patients who had been declared too mentally traumatized to remain in Starfleet overcome whatever had so traumatized them without the patient being reliant on medications and therefore able to be on deep space ships. That knowledge let him know that he was the only being who could possibly help Jim. Clearly Czacheck was able to gauge when the patients needed help and he would be ready to give Jim Kirk any help he needed. The seat in the small room was comfortable enough but did not make the waiting any easier.

After the conversation with McCoy, with the confirmation of what he had believed, Czacheck looked back in on the five men he had in the observation room and asked to two observers to follow him. Once they were out of the room Czacheck went to the comm unit on the wall and said, "This is Czacheck. Officer Wainrite your services are required." Almost immediate an officer arrived and all Czacheck did was point to the door to the observation room and say, "Nobody comes out of nor goes in and the comm unit in there has been routed to only this one and set on recorded."

"Understood, Sir."

Czacheck then escorted the two observers to another small room and looked at both of them. For one of them this would be much easier than for the other as one had only to say a few words he had said while the other, he shook his head, the other he had told just to help Kirk when he knew was the right time to help him. He told them both that Kirk would most likely have a violent reaction at the end of this session and to be ready. As he looked at them he realized he would be surprised if Kirk did not violently react as he was so close to the end, so very close to the end. "You will both be watching and listening and will know when and how you should enter and what you should do."

As he started to go into the room to guide Kirk through this last stage he said a silent prayer that the two he was most relying on could help Kirk. He prayed that what he was about to do did not push Kirk, in his present state, into the world he would be forever trapped in but would be like a rebirth with him reacting to being made to face his fears and accept reality. While he had had very traumatized patients before who he had been able to help back to reality and back into deep space this case, this Captain James Kirk, was different, so very different. The other patients had been severely traumatized by known outside factors, Kirk's was internal. The last thing he wanted with Kirk was a repeat of one of his first patients who he thought he had helped make it back from a state close to Kirk's. He wanted to believe that that patient had acted to a severe bout of survivor guilt but he had a gut feeling that he had missed something while treating the man that could have prevented it. He shook his head as he remembered how he and so many others could not see through the man's exceptional guise of acceptance until almost eighteen months after the man clearly found the best way of dealing with indirectly causing the death of almost all of his bridge crew, and nearly himself, was by being on the other side of an air lock.

A/N Thanks for reading. It'll be another few days till next chapter. Take care, have fun, and enjoy.