When Doctor Sanchez stepped out of surgery he was greeted by a tangible worried silence.
"He's going to be fine," he told them straight away. "The bullet did a lot of damage tearing through him but we checked for foreign material and fixed everything from the inside out. He lost a lot of blood which we've replaced and he should be good as new when he awakes."
"He's not awake yet?" Jim asked anxiously.
Sanchez looked slightly awkward.
"I gave him a strong sedative. It's been no secret he's not been getting half enough rest the last week. He needs the sleep as much as he needed the blood transfusion."
Jim nodded.
"Understood, Doctor. May we see him anyway?"
"Of course." He gestured them into the private room he'd installed McCoy in.
Jim went unhesitatingly to his side and looked him over.
He looked extraordinarily pale but otherwise seemed to simply be sleeping. Jim reached out a hand in an affectionate gesture and stroked back the doctor's hair. It was an act that ordinarily McCoy wouldn't let him get away with and Jim took some pleasure in it now.
He glanced back to see Spock was standing just to the side of the door.
"You can come closer you know," Jim teased, feeling playful with the relief. "He won't bite."
"I am aware of that," Spock responded. "However I prefer to observe from here."
Jim didn't press the issue and returned his focus to McCoy.
The older man's fatigue was evident and Jim couldn't fault Sanchez for taking advantage of the opportunity to give him some well needed rest.
He stroked his friend's hair a little longer, reassuring himself that McCoy was alive and well, before duty called and he headed for the door.
Spock however remained motionless.
"Spock?" Jim queried from the doorway.
"With your permission, Captain, I should prefer to stay here and await the doctor's awakening."
Jim tried very hard to hide his widening smile.
"Of course, Mister Spock," he replied in as formal a tone as he could muster. "Please inform me of Doctor McCoy's mental and emotional state once he's awake."
And so saying he left, knowing Spock would take that as an order and be unable to leave without actually talking to McCoy.
Spock considered the captain's words carefully, recognising the very strong hint that he should talk to the doctor, and knowing precisely what it was the captain felt should be said.
It was at their last chess game that Spock had spoken of his attempts to find a solution to the Fesarian problem, not for his own sake, but because he believed it was affecting the doctor's efficiency. The captain had been of the opinion it was only a 'problem' if they continued to treat it as such.
When Spock pointed out that Doctor McCoy had made his emotions on the subject quite clear, Jim had suggested that perhaps Spock needed to do the same.
He had not readily understood but he thought he did now. Jim had not been referring to what McCoy said, but what the scientific evidence told Spock. The very same evidence that Spock had denied McCoy.
McCoy shifted slightly and let out a long breath.
Spock stepped quietly forward, not wishing to wake him if he were resting, but the doctor's eyes immediately opened to look at him.
"Oh. It's you," he muttered before letting his eyes fall shut again.
Spock continued to the bedside and surveyed the human. There was no glow, not even a tinge of pink in his cheeks. Due to blood loss, Spock knew, yet it made it no less unpleasant to observe.
"I have never understood human regret," he spoke gently but determinedly. "If an action is logical then one will engage in it. If it is not then there is no purpose in it nor in regretting not doing it."
McCoy snorted quietly in exasperated amusement but didn't otherwise respond.
"Now however," Spock continued. "Now I believe I understand."
McCoy opened his eyes again and stared at the Vulcan. He didn't miss the green sparkle that hovered in the air around him.
"What do you understand?" McCoy sounded curious, if tired.
"I understood immediately the pheromones were not CVA – which is typically found in insects – nor likely to be androstadienone – which is synthesised."
McCoy's gaze had shifted away and was now focused on the far wall.
"I calculated a high likelihood the pheromone was in fact a form of estradiol." He watched a faint pink bloom in the doctor's cheeks.
"Do we have to do this now?" McCoy's voice was pitiful and ordinarily Spock would have complied with the injured man's wishes. But this was too important.
"The likelihood seemed confirmed when I examined my own sample to find it shared the same chemical structure."
McCoy's eyes came back to him.
"What are you saying?" He sounded genuinely confused and Spock realised he needed to be utterly clear.
"I am talking of not realising a possibility until it is too late," Spock explained. "Not seeing what should have been obvious…" He laid his hand cautiously atop McCoy's. The gesture was fairly innocent by human standards but unusually intimate for a Vulcan.
McCoy's eyes snapped down to the hand on his and he swallowed.
"You saying you'd have regretted not exploring… this phenomena… more… if I'd have died?" His accent was thick in his voice.
As he mentioned dying Spock's hand instinctively gripped more firmly but his voice was calm as he replied.
"If by 'this phenomena' you mean the obvious attraction we each feel, then yes."
McCoy's eyes widened at the surprising admission and a light shimmer of red glittered across him. A rush of unexpected relief flooded him.
"I feel something more than just attraction, Spock," McCoy admitted, to both himself and the Vulcan.
Spock stepped closer so his other hand could rest on the doctor's cheek. He carefully avoided the psi points but knew Leonard would recognise the pro-offered intimacy implicit in the gesture.
"Taluhk nash-veh k'dular," he murmured.
Leonard eyed him warily.
"That better mean you feel more for me too," he told him.
In reply Spock leant down and placed a chaste kiss on his forehead.
"It does," he confirmed.
McCoy sighed in pure contentment.
"You know, I didn't even know why I felt so frustrated?" he murmured.
Spock indulged himself and mimicked Jim's earlier gesture, smoothing Leonard's hair. To his surprise and private pleasure, the doctor seemed to welcome the gesture.
His eyes fell shut and Spock heard his breathing slow and lengthen.
Suddenly a human hand gripped his wrist and blue eyes flashed open in alarm.
"You won't disappear will you? Damn! This is some hallucination isn't it?"
Spock allowed his eyes to crinkle slightly in amusement.
"It is not a hallucination and I shall remain here to tell you again when you next wake."
Bright blue eyes searched his before tiredness overcame him again. Spock repeated the hair stroking until the doctor fell asleep again.
Then he sat by his bedside and resolved to study every aspect of Leonard's sleeping face.