Chapter 67 - Not Quite
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Jim and Spock ran into Bones coming out of his quarters and looking unusually happy.
"Bones, it's past noon and you're smiling - did you finish that present without me?" Jim asked with a grin.
"No, Jim. I just finally got some sleep." McCoy beamed happily. "And I had an angel sing me to my rest."
While Jim's grin faded, Spock's head tilted in puzzlement almost as though it was pivoting on his ascending eyebrow.
Bones flashed him a megawatt grin. "I mean, your lovely sister tucked me in."
For just an instant, Jim thought Spock might be physically ill, but he rallied quickly even if he directed his next remarks more to the ceiling than to the doctor. "Is she still asleep? We had hoped to ask her about Cmdr. Sorenson's condition."
"Oh, she left before I quite drifted off." Bones drawled, bouncing on his toes and enjoying every moment of getting a reaction out of Spock. "But I think she was planning to go check in on him."
"I see. Then I shall look for them in sickbay." Spock moved in that direction with deliberate speed.
Jim slapped Bones on the back. "You should have had the talk with him - you lucky bastard."
"Not quite that lucky." Bones winked. "But don't tell Spock. I think he could stand to get used to the idea."
...A short distance down a the hall, Spock quietly thanked providence for Vulcan hearing.
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"Fafhrd, wake up." Selina shook his shoulder until at least one eye opened. "The next shift is starting soon and Len will be irate if he finds you missing."
A sleepy smile turned to a devilish grin. "At least this time I'll deserve it."
Whenever he was back to himself, she was going to have so much fun teasing him about his potential as a one man harem. For now, however, she lifted a knowing eyebrow. "Erik, is Fafhrd even awake in there?"
He rubbed his eyes and the grin went a bit crooked. "Yes. Sorry, he seems to get out more when I'm drowsy."
"Am I going to be able to trust you to make it back to sickbay on your own?"
She caught the arm that snaked out to reel her in beside him and tried to pull him out with it instead. It was like trying to drag a bear out of hibernation. "Faf, you cannot stay."
He rolled over and covered his head with a pillow. "Couldn't you just call down and tell them I fell asleep here?"
"You need to return and I need to talk with LT." she said firmly, removing the pillow and smoothing his hair back into place. "The only question is whether I need to escort you back."
"No. -::yawn::- I'll be fine if I just wake up a bit." He stretched and flashed a teasing grin as he rose. "I could use a shower. Want to follow me in this time?"
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Christine sighed inwardly. What part of 'don't be gone too long' had sounded like 'go ahead, disappear for hours, no one will mind'? Of the three people standing before her, Spock was the only one who seemed inclined not to mind, but that might just be due to the contrast with the doctor who was quickly escalating toward ballistic.
"What do you mean he was discharged?" McCoy demanded. "I never signed any damn discharge order."
"There's your signature: right there." Christine nodded at the screen and folded her arms. "And it's coded with your voice print."
"Looks like Clyde done broke outta yer prison, sheriff." Jim drawled an appalling Texas accent.
"Shut up, Jim. He's in no shape to be wandering around on his own."
"Selina is with him." Christine told them again. "I'm sure she'll bring him back if there's any trouble."
Jim opened his mouth, but thought better of it the minute Bones just looked at him. "Make one 'Bonnie' reference, Jim, and I swear-to-God I'll stick you with the first hypo that comes to hand."
"Calm yourself, doctor." Spock said patiently. "I am certain that Ms. Chandri would not have permitted him to leave sickbay if she believed there were any danger of ill effect."
McCoy rounded on him. "She was the one who warned me not to let him near a computer. You know him too. What were you thinking giving him access?"
Spock's eyebrows rose in mild affront. "I was thinking that he was most capable of decoding the recovered data chips in a timely manner. Moreover, because I do know him, I surmised that such a task would be far more beneficial to his recovery than your shamanistic attempts at psychotherapy."
"Shamanistic attempts!?!" The doctor's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You wanna see how shamans exorcise hobgloblins, you supercilious, green-blooded -"
"What did you do to set him off this time, Spock?" Sorenson appeared in the doorway with a broad grin.
"And you!" McCoy stabbed a finger at him. "This not a hotel. You do not get to check yourself out any damn time you feel like it."
Sorenson's eyebrows rose in almost-innocent surprise. "I can't imagine what you're talking about, doctor."
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about, dammit! You got into my system and wrote your own release order."
"Really? Wow. Hacking a CMO's database is pretty serious." Sorenson's eyebrows rose higher. "Spock, you changed all the command codes when I was abducted, right?"
"Of course. That is standard procedure." Spock affirmed, one corner of his mouth edging upward.
Sorenson affected a look of concentration. "My memory's still a little iffy. You didn't give me any of them, did you?"
"Doing so before you were cleared to return to active duty would have been contrary to Starfleet regulations." Spock replied smoothly.
"Huh." He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "So I was locked out of the main system. You've got an A-7 rating Spock, how do you think that discharge could have been generated?"
"Given his current highly emotional state, the most logical assumption would be that owing to the stress and exhaustion of the last 48 hours, the doctor forgot having signed the order." Spock looked considerably closer to smirking than a Vulcan really ought to.
"That's the only logical assumption, is it?" McCoy spat. If looks could kill, Spock would be a smoldering pile of ash.
"The most logical." Spock corrected. "It would seem that your powers of comprehension remain significantly diminished."
Chapel covered her mouth and Jim clapped Bones on the shoulder before his friend forgot that taking a swing at Spock was a bad idea. "Give it up for once, Bones. We didn't go to all that trouble rescuing him just make him stand a court martial. Besides, if I have to order an investigation; Spock's the most qualified."
"Fine." Bones sucked in his cheeks and raised an eyebrow at Sorenson. "But discharge order or no, if you don't get back in that bed, I swear I'll put you there myself."
"Relax, doctor." He held his hands up in surrender, retreating into sickbay. "Until I can go back to the Aldrin, I've got nowhere else to sleep anyway." He hopped up on the bed, humming A Wandering Minstrel, I.
"Dear Lord, not more singing." Bones muttered, looking skyward.
"Where's Selina by the way?" Jim asked.
Sorenson leaned back crossing his legs and putting his hands behind his head. "Well, you see, we have this agreement about when she's allowed to look in my head..."
"Stone ordered you to let her." McCoy growled.
"Yes." he said dryly, one eyebrow arching in accusation. "She let me know that in no uncertain terms."
The doctor crossed his arms. "Well, this time I'm gonna make sure you stay right here until she's checked what's going on in that devious brain."
"Then no problem, eh?" He sat up. "I have already dutifully submitted. In fact, she's reporting to Stone right now."
"All things considered, I think I'll believe that when I hear it from her directly." McCoy leveled a stare at his recalcitrant patient.
"Clearly she believes him much recovered or she would not have allowed him to return on his own." Spock observed.
"Yes, and she helped a bit too." Sorenson exchanged a brief glance with Spock. "But honestly, she kicked me out. I'd nodded off and she didn't think it would be a good idea to talk with my boss with me snoring in the background."
Jim and Christine laughed.
He grinned at them. "Yeah, they'd probably have had to resort to sign language."
Bones rolled his eyes. "That still doesn't explain you being gone all this time."
"Like I was saying, we have this agreement, only she suddenly decided that we should renegotiate the whole thing." He made a sort of helpless 'go figure' expression. "Of course, being a born diplomat, she lulled me into a false sense of security by patching my memory up a bit before she sprang that on me. And the old agreement had been in place a long time." He closed his eyes and settled back on the bed. "We had lot of ground to cover."
Spock's eyebrows rose slightly. "You appear satisfied with the outcome."
"Oh, it'll probably all fall apart soon enough." His lips curled in a wistful smile. "But for right now, ...yeah."
Kirk looked from one to the other. He decided to work out what was going on later. "Well, if you have your memory back, there's something we could use your help with."
"I still don't remember most of what happened yet, Captain. Grey thinks that will take bit more effort to sort out. But I've got what I need to get back to work." He looked pointedly at McCoy. "As soon as I'm allowed to, that is."
Jim pulled McCoy aside. "Bones, we need him."
"I don't know if he's fit for duty, Jim." McCoy whispered. "I can't put my finger on it, but there's something not quite right with him."
"There is something not quite right with most humans." Spock interjected. "However, it does not seem to prevent you from functioning." He looked meaningfully at the Captain. "In some cases, it may even be considered an advantage."
Jim grinned slyly. "I'm going to take that as compliment Spock."
"It was meant as such." Spock acknowledged.
Unfortunately, that bit of levity didn't make much of a dent in the way Bones was glaring at Spock, who was not only completely unfazed by the physician's glare, but dangerously close to enjoying it. Spock decided to excuse himself before straying into any further into something quite so un-Vulcan. "Perhaps to facilitate matters I should locate Ms. Chandri and obtain her opinion of Cmdr. Sorenson's ability to function."
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Christine shook her head listening to the exchange between senior officers and returned to check on Allen, who appeared to be smiling happily at the ceiling. She sucked her cheeks in to avoid smirking. "Well, whatever she did to help, you look a lot happier."
"I feel better too. In fact, I think I've gotten my appetite back. Any chance I could get a pizza?" Erik looked up at her hopefully. "Large, extra everything?"
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AN: More fluff than moving the story along, but scenes with Spock and McCoy deliberately annoying each other are a ST perennial and some of my favorite parts of TOS. And Allen (or at least Erik) sort of wanted a chance to get back at McCoy for ratting him out to Selina.
As to what happened between the last chapter and the middle section of this one, in the fine tradition of TOS, there was a commercial break and whether anything came of Sunday afternoon beyond a moderately innocent conversation between old friends is left to the audience to decide.
