Chapter 23- Promises Kept

I had to wait until I finished with my shift at the clinic before I could catch up with Bowman so she could keep her promise. I was dog tired and a little depressed. A young medical student had come in upset that he had lost a patient. I swapped him for my 1200 anxiety disorder with another student because he seemed particularly distressed and I sadly had some expertise in the area. I sat with him the entire afternoon, quietly listening and offering soft, soothing assurances to pull him back from the brink. He was in emergency medicine and this was his first casualty. Although he knew it was a certainty, there was something about this patient that particularly bothered him; she was young and there was no indication that she was at risk, but she had developed a brain hemorrhage that he did not check for and this was the ultimate cause of her demise. Naturally he questioned his ability as a physician and his very competency as a human being. It was all eerily familiar, but I had to convince him that life did go on and entreated him to focus not on the one who did die, but the number that would if he gave up practicing medicine. In the end he was calmer, but after Meyers I took nothing for granted and made him promise he would call me if he needed to.

I worried about him even as I walked with Bowman to the dive bar she had picked out just off campus. The place was dimly lit and dingy, but despite this it was relatively busy. Most people in attendance wore black leather and I would have said it was a biker bar except there were no motorcycles parked in neat rows outside. One would have to question the integrity of the place on name alone; above the door outside "Road Kill" was painted in red on a plank. I thought it best not to order any food although I was starving and instead stuck to a steady diet of Bailey's while I watched Bowman dance from table to table chatting with just about anyone that caught her eye. I sat by myself at the far end of the bar and listened to a song paradoxically called "Transsexual Lesbian" sung in first person by a very rough and raw male voice scream down from the ceiling. I sipped on my watered down drink and pondered the riddle as I kept an eye on Bowman out of the corner of my eye. I didn't like to think of myself as prejudiced, but I did have enough common sense to know that someone as beautiful and unguarded as Bowman in this bar was like tossing a steak into a lion's den. I smirked when I thought of my brother who owned a Harley- he was certainly no predator, but not everyone has the best intentions in mind and it didn't help that she was egging them on.

I almost groaned when a big burly guy sat down next to me. He smelled like sweat and gasoline. "Hey, purdy. What's a military woman doin' in a place like this?" His voice was deeply southern in a way McCoy's wasn't. I did sort of stick out like a sore thumb in my blue Starfleet uniform- now with a logo!

"Having a drink my roommate owed me." I answered simply.

"Let's see…blue. That science?" He guessed. He was irritating; he reminded me of a blown up Barney Fife or an extra from 'Deliverance.'

"And medical." I sighed. I didn't know why I was wasting my time with him. I needed more alcohol. Where the hell was Bowman?

"'ell I'll be." He chuckled. "If you are a doctor, I got an ache you could fix."

I looked at him and smiled tersely. "I doubt it, but I could cause you some if that is what you are looking for." His face fell and I felt bad for being so harsh. I patted his beefy hand and added, "Look, I am sure you are a really nice guy, but I am married so I am not really on the market." It was at least a half truth and a terribly convenient one. It was that or tell him I was gay, but I wasn't sure how well that would go over in a place like this.

He gracefully ducked out to continue his hunt elsewhere and left me there thinking I was getting to old for this scene. I was better suited to a coffee shop where I could debate others in stimulating conversations; the kind of places you found on college campuses where old, grey haired professors sat with students and talked about life, truth, and beauty without seeming out of place. I doubted anyone here had read Dostoevsky, Sartre, or Nietzsche. They had probably never admired a painting by Van Gogh or felt moved by Mozart or Beethoven. It was only when I thought of these things that I was filled with a sense of curiosity that I would know of these things either. No one including myself could have predicted at the start of my life that I would have turned out as I have, time travel notwithstanding.

I was distracted by Bowman's screech. I looked across the bar to see her wrenching her arm away from a scruffy looking man. "Leave me alone, you creep!" She howled. I watched her over the top of my glass and scanned the room to see if any of the men were chivalrous enough to step up and defend a lady, but it seemed they were in the same group. I looked at the grizzled bartender and he only shrugged while he dried a glass with a dirty towel. He knew better than to get involved. I watched as the lecherous man bent down to run his greasy hand up her thigh under her skirt. She screamed in disgust and slapped him away as the other men laughed. The man took offense and slapped her across the face.

Although I knew it was suicide, something in me snapped the moment his hand came in contact with her face and I rose to my feet to make way to her. "Come on, let's go." I mumbled into her ear pushing her toward the door.

"McCoy!" She slurred rubbing her reddened face. "Not so hard. You make me fall down." She began giggling uncontrollably and I rolled my eyes. I didn't have time to argue with her, we were standing in a circle of sharks and we had to get out as soon as possible before something really bad happened.

"Let her go," the man sneered, "she likes it rough, don't ya' baby?" He reached out his hand and grabbed a handful of her blonde curls.

"Stop, you're hurting me." She cried painfully twisting her head in his direction to relieve the pressure on her scalp.

"You heard her." I said in a low tone. "Let her go."

The man looked to me with an ugly smirk. "Or what, sweetheart? You gonna call in your Navy buddies to kick our asses?" He leaned in close and his breath was sickening. "Or are you gonna do it all by your little self?" He stuck out his tongue and licked the side of my face and I recoiled in disgust. The man laughed and grabbed my upper arm roughly. "Maybe you both like it rough. Whadda ya say we find out?"

"You go first." I stated kicking him hard in the groin with my military boot. He hit the ground like a ton of bricks, wheezing and pale and I secretly thanked Spock for his training. I pulled Bowman down into a crouch to avoid the flying fists overhead and we duck walked toward the door covering our heads from shards of glass that were propelled through the air. Just my luck, one jagged piece caught me in the temple and I felt hot liquid run down the side of my face, but I yelled at Bowman to keep going. When we stood up, I looked back at the mêlée that had broken out in horror. The door opened and my eyes went wide to see my warfare tactics instructor with a very mean look on his face. I turned back for a split second to look for Bowman and caught a punch that I was sure broke my nose. The pain was blinding and I literally saw stars out of my watering eyes. I instinctively covered it in a futile effort to mitigate the pain and felt blood seep through my fingers and drip to the floor.

"What in the blue hell are you two doing here?" He bellowed like a drill sergeant. He grabbed us by the shirts and drug us across campus to the medical center lecturing the whole way about our Captains being notified and notes placed in our file. I stumbled along behind trying my best not to pass out. Surely this was not what Jim had in mind and I just knew I was going to catch hell from McCoy if he found out.

At the medical center, my photograph was taken and what a pretty picture it made: my face was bloody and I had the beginnings of a nice shiner under my right eye. It looked like my face had gone through a windshield in a car accident. Bowman was drunk, but otherwise ok so she was sent back to the dorm escorted by a security cadet. I was placed in an exam room that was completely white and a little cold. I shivered and squinted against the bright lights overhead until a medical student saw to me. She was polite but efficient, she surely had seen most everything and I was no exception. I consented to her fixing my broken nose, but I had to get back to Bowman because she was too intoxicated to be left alone. The woman passed a device over my nose and I cringed and gripped the sides of the bed as hard as I could. "This might hurt a little." She said in a bored tone well after she had started. I wasn't sure what hurt worse, the moment it was broken or feeling the shards realign under my skin and knit back together. Even McCoy wouldn't have been that cruel unless it was an emergency.

It was early in the morning when I was discharged and I went back to the room to find Bowman with her face in the toilet. I squatted in the shower and held her hair out of the way and sighed wondering how in the hell I got myself into this. Bowman's stomach finally settled enough to let her sleep when the sun came up and I was looking forward to it myself, but as I was cleaning the blood from my face the screen in the main room beeped. I turned it on to see an older woman with her hair in a bun and a very stern look on her face as though she were a school principal on the left side of the screen while an equally peeved looking Jim was on the right. "I trust you know what this is about." She croaked in a hateful tone. "You have been reported to Academic Affairs for fighting in a bar last night while in uniform. May I remind you that you are a representative of Starfleet and your actions reflect not only on yourself but on the organization as well. Captain Kirk has been notified of your actions and will take appropriate disciplinary measures."

Jim stiffly nodded and in a low determined tone said, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Admiral. Rest assured that Dr. Collins-McCoy will be dealt with." The two saluted each other and her image disappeared when she signed off while Jim's enlarged to fill the screen. "Jim, I wasn't fighting! I swear I…" I stammered.

His piercing blue eyes were freighting in their intensity and I really thought he was angry with me until his harsh features slowly melted into the more familiar smile and he began laughing with mirth twinkling in his eyes. "You sure as hell weren't kissing anyone unless you were trying to mate with a Klingon!" He exclaimed pointing at the screen to no doubt indicate my bruised face. "That is fucking awesome! Is that a shiner you have going there?" He asked mockingly drawing a half circle under his own eye.

Behind me Bowman stirred and asked in slurred tone, "Is that Kirk?"

Jim looked toward her and smirked when she saluted him from her bed. He gave her his cocky 'picking up chicks' smile and returned a lazy salute. She sighed happily and went back to sleep. I shook my head. "So what are you going to do to me?" I asked wiping the rest of the blood from my head.

He looked at me and laughed a little too hard. "Nothing for now, but I will let you know when I want to call it in." Somehow that was worse. I had heard about the types of things Jim did to those that were unfortunate enough to be in his debt and it usually involved humiliation, a dirty job, or both.

"I got your message." I chuckled. "So McCoy is having some issues?"

Jim rolled his eyes and sighed. "He is driving me bat shit with his moping and sourpuss attitude. You need to come back because you are like Prozac. Even Chekov has been quieter than usual. He doesn't give a damn when I tease him, it just isn't fun anymore."

"I thought you guys were in deep space, how are we talking?" I asked quizzically.

He glanced away and bit his lip. "We came back within range because somebody had some business to attend to." He answered cryptically. I thought hard about it but couldn't imagine what he was getting at and it was clear that was all he was going to say at the moment. "Collins, officially I am disappointed in your conduct and you will be disciplined upon your return. Unofficially I am stoked with your moxy and you do us proud by reminding those pussies what we on the Enterprise are made of! But, it is damn early and I am tired. Kirk outie."

The screen went black and I smiled. It was nice to see and talk with him in real time even if the circumstances were not ideal. Just as I was turning to go back to the bathroom, the screen beeped again. This time, McCoy's tense face greeted me. He was deeply scowling and his lips were pursed together in agitated displeasure. He was in his quarters and it looked like he had just gotten out of bed. I swallowed as he held up a copy of the photograph that was taken at the medical center. "Mind telling me what the hell this is about?" He asked in a gruff voice.

"How did you get that?" I gasped. Good news never seemed to travel faster than bad.

He smirked sarcastically and dryly said, "Domestic partners, remember?" Damn Jim! "But besides that I got it as the CMO to add to your medical file. I would have found out either way. Now spill your guts, woman."

I jerked my thumb toward Bowman and said, "I was trying to get her out of trouble. I swear I wasn't spoiling for a fight, but no one else was sticking up for her. I didn't plan on hurting anyone, but this grease monkey licked my face and grabbed me so I kicked him in the balls and then all hell broke loose."

Bowman sat up and sleepily asked, "Who are you talking to?" McCoy's narrowed laser like eyes shifted to her and she sunk back into the bed and pulled the covers up to her eyes and peered fearfully at him.

"Bowman, meet Dr. McCoy. McCoy, my roommate." I introduced.

McCoy said nothing at first and she sunk deeper into the bed as though the weight of his glare were a tangible force. "Listen up, sweetheart." He muttered in a low and menacing tone. "Your roommate is an integral part of this ship. If you do anything to endanger her again I will come down there myself and stick my size 10 combat boot straight up your pretty little ass until I can lace them up through your mouth. Don't think taking off will help because I will hunt you down no matter where you are or what ship you are on. I will find you and she will tell you that the longer I have to wait the worse it is when I do find you. Am I understood?"

"Aye, Sir!" She barked in a shaky voice.

"Alright then." He grumbled looking her over. "You look like hell. Drink plenty of water and take a couple aspirin if you need to, but stay in bed today and get some sleep."

"Aye, Sir." She sheepishly replied covering herself completely up to get away from the bad man.

I looked at him and shook my head with an expression that read 'You are so mean!'

He picked it up and smiled as if to reply 'Guilty as charged, but it had to be done. Are you ok?'

I smiled faintly. 'I will be.'

He nodded. 'I am exhausted.'

'Me too. Goodnight.' I silently said.

His last expression before he ended the transmission also said goodnight, but there was an added sense of sweetness to it and I smiled even though my bruised lip hurt. We probably could have had the entire conversation by well nuanced facial expressions, but then he couldn't have bitched out Bowman and I couldn't deny him that small pleasure. I knew there was no way now that I could convince her that he wasn't the spawn of Satan even though I knew better.

I had just laid down when I got yet another message. I was all for chatting with my crewmates, but this was getting ridiculous. The ship ran on Earth time so surely they knew it was still early. When I answered it, it was the med student I saw the day before. He said he had been having nightmares in which the woman that had died was asking him why and he had no answer for her. He sounded like he was in acute distress and it quickly became obvious that I couldn't resolve it remotely, so I got him to agree to meet me in the park across from the medical center.

I quickly dressed and made my way across the dewy grass, the cold dampness clung to my pant legs making me shiver until I reached the park. I sat on a bench and waited for what seemed an inordinate amount of time. I was beginning to worry when I finally spotted a figure slowly making it's way toward me in a shuffle. When I realized it was him, I rose to meet him halfway. He apologized profusely for bothering me and only paused momentarily to notice that my appearance had changed since the last time we had met. I assured him that I was glad he contacted me because I was. Even though it meant I had to forego sleep for a few more hours, I did make him promise and keeping my end of the bargain was well worth the investment if I could help him through this dark period in his life so he could continue his badly needed skill despite a setback. There was so much suffering in the world that we needed every person we could get to help alleviate it, including the ones that get disillusioned and lost along the way. I walked with him to the main clinic where he could get checked in and observed for more intense treatment. Although it would be a long and dark journey, I had confidence that he would come out on the other side and see the sun again, giving him enough courage to again pick up his weapon and continue fighting for those that couldn't.