Captain Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Dr. McCoy in his gurney rematerialized inside Vulcan Medical Center. It was one of the best hospitals on Vulcan, Spock had told.

Spock and Scotty stayed with Dr. McCoy, as Captain Kirk hurried over to the front desk.

"Excuse me, I need a doctor, right away; it's an emergency." Captain Kirk ordered, calmly.

"What's your emergency," The receptionist asked, emotionlessly.

"My Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Leonard McCoy, he needs to see a team of medics immediately. He has severe brain damage."

The receptionist nodded. She bent over on her desk, pushed a button, and began speaking into a microphone.

"I need a team of emergency medics in the emergency room at the greeter's station, stat." The receptionist simply spoke.

Before they knew it, a team of Vulcan doctors came rushing out in their uniforms and ran to Dr. McCoy's side. One Vulcan scanned Dr. McCoy with something that looked like a highly advanced version of Dr. McCoy's tricorder back on the Enterprise.

"Diagnoses, Dr. Sarell," Another Vulcan commented.

"75% of this man's brain is in critical condition; been in a coma for approximately 7 days, 46 hours, 32 minutes, and 51.64 seconds." Dr. Sarell answered.

"These Vulcans sure do make exact diagnoses, don't they, Mr. Spock." Scotty whispered to Spock.

"Vulcan is one of the most highly advanced planets in the Federation with their medical knowledge. What you observe, Mr. Scott, is logical." Spock answered.

Scotty simply looked back at Dr. McCoy.

"Get him to ICU, stat; I want a further, in depth examination of him in about an hour." Dr. Sarell ordered.

"Affirmative, Doctor," A Vulcan doctor spoke.

The four other Vulcan doctors wheeled Dr. McCoy off to an elevator, and Dr. Sarell stayed behind. Dr. Sarell approached Captain Kirk, Spock, and Scotty.

"Are you the men who brought that man in?" He questioned.

"Yes, Dr. Sarell," Captain Kirk answered.

Dr. Sarell nodded and turned to face Spock.

"Mr. Spock, surprise to see you here." Dr. Sarell answered.

"The man we have just brought in, Doctor, is my friend." Spock answered.

"How is work on the Enterprise, then?"

"Very…interesting, Doctor,"

Dr. Sarell turned back to Captain Kirk.

"And I presume you must be Captain James Tiberius Kirk." Dr. Sarell commented.

Captain Kirk nodded.

"You're correct, Dr. Sarell," Captain Kirk replied.

Dr. Sarell then turned to Scotty.

"And who might you be?" Dr. Sarell asked.

"I am Chief Engineering Officer Montgomery Scott for the USS Enterprise, Dr. Sarell." Scotty answered, softly, yet sounding bold.

"Who was the man I just had wheeled off to ICU, then?" Dr. Sarell questioned.

The three Starfleet officers were silent for a while, until Captain Kirk found enough energy to speak.

"That man, Dr. Sarell…is my Chief Medical Officer…Dr. Leonard Horatio McCoy." Captain Kirk answered, softly.

"What caused his injuries to his brain?" Dr. Sarell questioned.

"There was a…faulty pipe in Engineering that broke off the ceiling…during a battle with the Romulans…Captain Kirk had given McCoy the orders…to go down and tend to those…who were wounded." Scotty spoke, beginning to sob.

Captain Kirk glanced over at Scotty then back at Dr. Sarell.

"Sounds like nothing more than an accident occurred." Dr. Sarell stated.

"That would be the correct term for it, Doctor." Spock answered.

"Can you help him; make him wake up?" Captain Kirk asked, anxious.

"I will see what I can do, Captain Kirk. Until further tests have been done, I can not give an exact answer on whether or not I can make your friend regain consciousness from his coma. By what I know now, 75% of the human brain severely damaged is not necessarily a good sign of recovery." Dr. Sarell answered.

Captain Kirk sighed and nodded.

"I understand, Dr. Sarell," Captain Kirk commented.

Dr. Sarell nodded and escorted the three men up to the fifth floor, where the ICU was.

Later that day…

Captain Kirk, Spock, and Scotty were sitting in the ICU waiting room, as Dr. Sarell, and his assistants were running tests on Dr. McCoy. Captain Kirk sat in a chair, his arm resting on the arm rest, propping his head up with his right arm, as he thought about things. Spock was reading a medical magazine on brain trauma and the known ways to treat and/or cure it. Scotty was drinking several bottles of Scotch that he had served to him by the Vulcan doctors. With Dr. McCoy no longer to vent to, it was Scotty's only way to feel better…but it worked only to a certain extant.

Captain Kirk kept tapping his fingers on his left arm rest, as he stared at the wall, lost in his own sea of thoughts flowing around his mind. He wondered how the Enterprise was doing without him, he was wondering how Sickbay, Engineering, the Science lab was, but most of all…he was worried sick with how Dr. McCoy was doing and when in God's name would he bring Dr. McCoy back to them.

Dr. Sarell entered the waiting room, and saw that none of the Starfleet officers were in the present world with their bodies. Mentally, they were somewhere far, far away from all of this, not wanting to face it. They all wanted to hide away and not come out, until something good were to happen. Captain Kirk finally snapped out of his trance and noticed Dr. Sarell. He quickly rose to his feet and approached the doctor with Spock not far behind.

"Well…" Captain Kirk questioned.

Dr. Sarell sighed.

"There is a lot of damage in Leonard's brain; fixing all of it and expecting him to go back to being 100% normal would be what humans refer to as a miracle." Dr. Sarell answered.

"But…" Spock stated, knowing there was more.

"But, there are treatments here that we can perform on Leonard to increase his chances of regaining consciousness. I want you all to know and keep it in your minds closely that even with the treatments, Leonard still may never regain some of his abilities, again. There's even the possibility of them not working, either." Dr. Sarell answered.

Captain Kirk nodded, understanding those terms.

"Thank you, Dr. Sarell…when will treatment begin?" Captain Kirk questioned.

"I will start tomorrow morning early. I'm waiting for my colleagues to arrive from another part of Vulcan here. They have far more knowledge and expertise in neurology, specifically with human beings." Dr. Sarell answered.

Captain Kirk nodded.

"Can we see him, Doctor?" Spock replied.

Dr. Sarell nodded.

"Room ICU-564 whenever you three are ready." Dr. Sarell answered.

"Thank you, Doctor," Spock replied.

Dr. Sarell nodded and left.

Captain Kirk and Spock turned to face one another.

"Well…at least we know that there are some treatments available to try on Bones." Captain Kirk stated, sadly.

"There is that bright side to the situation, Captain." Spock commented.

Captain Kirk sighed.

"But still, even with all those treatments, there still is a chance that Bones will never wake up, again. I'll never hear him say 'Dammit, Jim; I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker', in that husky southern voice of his, again." Captain Kirk spoke.

"As I believe what Dr. McCoy would say in this situation, 'Don't be so hard on yourself, Jim'." Spock spoke, softly.

Captain Kirk nodded.

"Don't be hard on myself…how can I do that, when I'm the reason he's here in the first place?" Captain Kirk commented, looking out at the Vulcan night sky. A deep forest green sky with black streaks of clouds and a bronze moon to top it all off. It looked like a painting in a picture someone would see in an art museum; it was absolutely breath taking.

"Captain…you did not cause Dr. McCoy to get injured, and you did not cause him to go into a coma." Spock speculated.

"I'm the one who gave the order…I'm the one who told him to go down into Engineering and tend to those who needed it." Captain Kirk murmured.

"What happened to Dr. McCoy could have happened to anyone, Captain, whether you had sent Dr. McCoy down there or not. Someone still may be in a coma, had it not been Dr. McCoy."

"Why Bones, though…why Bones, Spock?"

"I can not answer your question, Captain. I simply do not know, nor does anyone else know why what happened to Dr. McCoy that night happened."

"Bones never did a thing to deserve such a horrible accident to occur to him. He always does his job well, he puts his crewmates before himself, his heart's as pure as gold, though for his occasional abrasive behavior to come out every so often…particularly when you two argue."

"Yes…all statements you make of the Doctor are in fact true, Captain."

Captain Kirk looked over at Scotty. He was drowning his sorrows in yet another bottle of Scotch.

"How much Scotch has Scotty had to drink?" Captain Kirk questioned.

"I presume this would be his fifth bottle of Scotch, Captain." Spock answered.

"Scotty,"

Scotty looked up at Captain Kirk. His eyes were glazed over and hazy. They seemed disconnected with the rest of the world, and had black circles around his eyes. His hand was frivolously shaking his bottle of Scotch and looked like he would throw up, if he were to get up.

"I think you've had enough Scotch for one night, lad." Captain Kirk spoke.

"Onena more, aptain," Scotty slurred.

"No…no more, Scotty; anymore than what you've had, Dr. McCoy isn't gonna be the only one in the hospital." Captain Kirk ordered.

"But is sooooo gould, aptain." Scotty said, weeping. It was more than obvious of how drunk he was.

Captain Kirk turned over to look at Spock with a certain glare. Spock nodded, knowing what exactly he was asking of him. Spock walked over to Scotty and gave him a Vulcan nerve pinch. Scotty's eyes rolled back and collapsed to the ground. Captain Kirk walked over, grabbed the bottle of Scotch off the table in between the chairs and threw it away in a garbage can.

"Spock…are their any near by hotels we could stay at for the night?" Captain Kirk questioned.

"There is a hotel a couple blocks down from this hospital, yes, Captain." Spock answered.

"Then that's we will house, until we know how much more we can do for Dr. McCoy."

Spock nodded, and threw Scotty over his shoulder. Captain Kirk started walking with them, when they passed by Dr. McCoy's room. Captain Kirk stopped then looked back at Spock.

"Spock," Captain Kirk spoke.

"Yes, Captain," Spock answered.

"You take Scotty to the hotel and get us checked in…I'm gonna…stay here for a little longer."

Spock nodded.

"Understood, Captain," And without another word, Spock left with Scotty. Captain Kirk sighed and entered Dr. McCoy's room. There was a nice view of the city outside of Dr. McCoy's window. Dr. McCoy was still hooked up to the same old machines and more. Captain Kirk sighed and walked over to Dr. McCoy's bed, then sat down besides him.

"Hey, Bones…it's Jim, here," Captain Kirk softly spoke.

Dr. McCoy didn't answer.

"Spock and Scotty are also here, well…not exactly here in the hospital, but they're here on Vulcan with us…you have some very good doctors taking care of you, Bones…I promise only the best for my Chief Medical Officer…my friend…Bones…God, where are you, when we need you most? Bones…you gotta wake up…please wake up, Bones…we need you…we all need you to get well and come back to us…the Enterprise wouldn't be the same without you. Who's gonna call Spock a green skinned, pointed eared hobgoblin…who's gonna nag me to keep up with my diet…who could take your place, Bones? Please…Dr. Leonard McCoy of the USS Enterprise…please just come back to us."