Well hello again! Probably my quickest update in a while, even if it still took too long :P - But were getting close to the finish line here, so I'm getting excited. Just so we're clear, I'm not a doctor, not even close, so if this next bit sounds like a bunch of bull to you just try and forgive me. Don't forget to review!
The lights were bright, the smell biting, and the beeping machines were worrying the hell out of him. But for the first time in what seemed like a long time – but wasn't, really – he felt in control. He was back on home turf, wearing the right uniform, playing hard ball.
When he looked down into his friend's guts, he felt a pit of unease in his stomach, but he ignored it – just like he always did in these situations. He ignored Jim's lifeless face at the end of the operating table with a tube down his throat. He didn't think about the fact that they hadn't even gotten to the fucking machine in his neck yet. Right about then he was just focused on the hole in Jim's gut.
"I need more suction!" McCoy called out, "Goddamnit, I can't see shit. Where is all this blood coming from?"
After coming back to the ship, Jim had been whisked down to medical. It looked like McCoy and Uhura's work on Jim before had slowed down his bleed, but after the latest round of action whatever they had done had been undone, and Jim was worse off than he had been before. There was a hole in his gut and his arm had a slash as well, though it was less serious. They would come back to it after Jim stabilized. McCoy had discovered to his relief that Jim's lung had in fact not been punctured – his neck had just been fucked completely, and not just from the device. Screaming had probably torn it. Small mercies, he supposed.
But before they could even worry about that, they had to patch up the hole in his gut. The wound was a clean stab in Jim's right side, tearing through his liver and nicking the intestines. It had taken a while, but two had been almost patched completely. Still, something else in there was bleeding heavily, and they had yet to find it.
Suddenly the beeping sped up.
"He's coding!" Doctor M'Benga said. He stood across the table from McCoy, his hands just as deep in Jim's gut.
"Get out, get out!" McCoy passed his tools to the tray and started compressions. Not again, his mind screamed. "Christine, pass me the paddles and charge." They were in his hand in a moment and M'Benga pulled out. "Clear!"
Jim's body shook with the shock and the doctors paused to wait for a rhythm. When nothing happened, McCoy frowned. "Shit, charge again."
He placed the paddles on his friend's chest and Jim was shocked again.
McCoy looked up and sighed in relief as the screens showed the heartbeat picking up again. He passed the paddles back to Nurse Chapel and picked up his tools again. They still had to stop this bleed.
"Christine, hang another unit? And push through some more antibiotics – who knows what the hell got in here."
"Yes, doctor."
After another few minutes, the tension broke. "I think I got it!" Doctor M'Benga said excitedly. "Yes, that's it – the kidney. It looks like there's a tear here, do you see that?"
"Yeah, I see it," McCoy responded, his voice tight. "Why the scans didn't pick that up, though…" his face creased in concentration. He looked up for a moment to see Chapel hanging another unit of blood. "Thanks Christine," he said. She only nodded, looking at Jim's face thoughtfully for a second before moving around to look at the back of his neck.
"What is this?" She asked, reaching forwards with a gloved hand to brush back Jim's hair.
"Uhura says it's a kind of communications device," McCoy responded. He hadn't wanted to think about this. About the fact that even if they saved him, Jim might not be there to save. "I can't say for certain how it does it, but that thing's controlling Jim's mind."
"What?" M'Benga and Chapel exclaimed simultaneously.
"And guess who was controlling him? Fucking Leighton!"
"Thomas Leighton?" Chapel cried, looking towards the doors. "But… but he's in engineering or something, right? I thought he and the captain knew each other!"
McCoy scoffed. "Oh, they know each other, alright. But not in the way Jim thought that they did."
"What do you mean?" M'Benga said, his eyes still wide, though his hands hadn't stopped in their movement.
McCoy paused, scowling at the thought of Leighton, Jim's supposed friend, siding with Kodos – the bastard who had killed thousands of people. "That's not really for me to say. Just know he's a fucking asshole. He's down in the brig now."
"Sir, he's not in the brig," Chapel said slowly.
"What?" McCoy snapped.
Chapel looked distraught, her eyes locked on the doors to the operating room. "I saw him outside earlier when I went to get blood – on one of the bio beds."
"What?" McCoy repeated. "What the hell is he doing up here?"
"There were a bunch of people around him – I wasn't paying to close attention, but he looked asleep or unconscious."
"Leonard," he heard M'Benga say in a low voice, and he looked down to see that his hands were shaking. "Leonard, just step back for a second – I can handle this."
"No, no. I can handle this. I need to do this. I can do this."
"The kidney's patched up," M'Benga pointed out. And it was true. The bleeding had stopped. "I can close up. Just step back, Leonard."
"I'm okay!"
"No, you're not," the other doctor replied bluntly, and McCoy looked up to see a set of steely eyes looking back at him. "Now step back. All we need to do is close. Jim will be fine. Go take care of yourself."
McCoy swallowed and resignedly put his tools back on the tray, stripping his scrubs as he walked towards the doors.
What Chapel had said was right. Leighton was lying on a biobed, surrounded by guards and handcuffed to the rail. It took restraint for him not to rush at him and strangle him to death for what he had done to Jim. But who knew if that would even really get rid of him. He might have to kill Jim to really get rid of that son of a bitch.
Instead he walked over to Sulu, who was a couple of beds down, his arm wrapped tightly in gauze and pulled up in a sling. The lieutenant was looking around uncomfortably, wincing slightly as he shifted in the bed.
"Don't even think about leaving, Sulu," McCoy called out to him.
"Dr. McCoy!" Sulu exclaimed. "I just – he – is Jim…?" he stuttered, his brows creased with worry.
"No, Jim's going to be fine," McCoy said roughly.
"And the mind control, doctor?"
McCoy jumped when he heard Spock's voice behind him, and turned to see the resident Vulcan standing behind him. "Good god, Spock. A little warning?"
"Doctor," Spock insisted.
He shook his head. "We haven't even started on that yet. He needs to be more stable, and we need a ton of scans before we can attempt anything. No way in hell am I going in there blind."
Spock nodded. "Leighton was at first brought to the brig, but was moved up here because of his current state. From what I can gather, he first became unconscious when he took control of the captain's mind, so it makes since that he would not awaken until his presence has been removed."
McCoy considered this, before looking up and saying, "Well how the hell are we gonna do that?"
"I assume you are aware of Vulcans' ability to connect with the minds of others, doctor?"
"Yeah, Jim told me about that voodoo your other self did to him during our fight with Nero."
"It is not, as you say, 'voodoo,' though in fact the two share one simple characteristic. It is simply – "
"Spock, I know what you mean. What are you gettin at?" McCoy cut in impatiently.
"What I am saying is that I could use a mind meld to discover the extent of Leighton's control over Jim, and to perhaps assist in the extraction of Leighton's mind."
McCoy looked at him. "Spock, what – who knows what that would do – to either of your minds?"
"Doctor, it may be the only way to help him."
McCoy scowled. "I don't want to try it unless we have no other option."
Spock looked about as frustrated as a Vulcan can look, but he didn't say anything in return.
The doctor ran a hand through his hair in frustration, the familiar ache in his chest he always felt when Jim was in these sorts of situations increasing. "Spock, if it comes down to it, we will. But I don't want to take any unnecessary risks! Not with this. Not with –" he cut off brokenly.
Spock's gaze softened. "I understand. I do not wish to harm Jim – I only desire his full recovery."
The corner of McCoy's mouth twitched in a small smile, though it fell quickly. Vulcans don't have feelings his ass. No one fretted over Jim more than McCoy, but Spock would have to be second. He just couldn't express it as well. "Me too, Spock," he replied softly, "me too."
"Hey doc," Sulu interrupted, seemingly unaware of the moment happening between his superiors. "Do you know when I'm allowed to leave?"
McCoy scowled as he looked over, grateful for the distraction. "Shut it, will you lieutenant?" After taking a look at Sulu's arm he finished, "You should consider yourself lucky this didn't go through the bone. But you'll have to stay for another round of antibiotics, just to be safe."
Sulu nodded as he looked down thoughtfully at the wound in his arm.
"Where did Uhura and the others go, anyway? Shouldn't they be down here, too?" McCoy asked, moving back towards Spock.
"Lieutenant Uhura is resting in her quarters, and Hanfred and Guiders are finishing their statements."
"Right, I –" he broke off as he suddenly swayed drunkenly, his headache making itself known again.
"Doctor?" Spock placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just –" then his stomach twisted sickeningly and he was barfing on the floor next to Spock's shoes.
A nurse came running up to them and pulled McCoy over to a biobed, disregarding his protests entirely. He had trained his staff too well.
"Doctor McCoy, can you hear me?" he heard the nurse – Turon – saying. A bright light flashed in his eyes one at a time. "Pupil reaction is a little slow. It looks like you've got a concussion, sir."
"Mm – I'm gonna –" a tray was shoved under his nose right before he threw up again. The backs of his eyes ached. He could feel the prick of a needle at his neck, and then at his wrist, and felt the pain ebbing.
"Just try to get some rest, sir," Turon said
"But Jim –"
"I'll wake you up when he gets out of surgery. Just rest."
And he didn't know if it was the meds, or the concussion, or just because he was straight up exhausted, but he fell asleep before he could even open his mouth again to protest.
