Trouble for Tribbles
by Starsinger
Pike has convinced McCoy to let him bring in the furballs he's adopted. Jim doesn't suspect a thing. Don't own them.
Jim sighed, John had given into McCoy's demands and given him a desk job, or, in this case, a bed job. "Note to self, don't die in McCoy's reach again, you'll spend long months in the hospital," he quipped grimly. Jim shook his head as he looked at the latest reports from ship's captains on the frontiers. Where he desperately wished he could be, but his ship and his body had different ideas.
"Any luck?" a familiar voice was heard. Jim looked up and smiled as he saw Pike enter the room carrying two pet carriers.
Jim looked at him curiously, "I can't see patterns that aren't there, Chris. At least if they're not there yet. When did you get a pet?"
"Well, the cat adopted me and the other two McCoy gave me, with strict instructions not to feed them too much."
Jim looked perplexed, "Cat?" Chris just smiled as he shut the door behind him and set the carriers down on the chair. Soon, he pulled out a tiny kitten and dumped her on Jim's knee. Trouble looked up at this new person with a questioning, "Mrow?" Jim reached out and scratched the kitten behind the ears. She immediately started purring and walked further up Jim's body as Chris pulled out two tribbles. "Now that's a combination you don't normally see," Jim said with a laugh."
"Yeah, she tends to bat them around the apartment. Don't feel sorry for them though. They sneak up on her when she's asleep and scare the crap out of her. It's a game they've invented. Tribbles can actually move pretty quickly when they want to."
Jim watched as Chris set all three on the floor and as Trouble started batting them around. He couldn't help but smile, it had been a week since Jo left Zurich with her mom, and he missed her almost as much as McCoy did. Trib 1, as Chris called it, snuck up under the bed while Trib 2 lay quiescent on the floor, almost taunting Trouble. She continued batting it around until Trib 1 popped out from under the bed and surprised Trouble, causing to leap straight into the air and run behind a chair to hide. A variation of this game continued as Chris sat down on the edge of Jim's bed, "How are you doing?"
"Alright, I guess, I'm sitting up in the chair for a couple of hours at a time, now. They still have to put a tray table in front of me for when I fall asleep." Jim watched with a grin as Trib 1 flew into the air only to be caught by the kitten. Well, caught being relative, the Tribble was bigger than Trouble. "Getting used to that, though. I hope it comes to an end soon."
"When you've healed enough for it, Jim," Chris said.
"I know, Chris. Hey, have you met Nurse Crachett. Best nurse I've got, although that's her maiden name. Her name's actually Leslie Sisko, she and her husband have kinda adopted me," Chris grinned. He had met Mrs. Sisko, she was an earthy woman who had a huge heart. Jim was in good hands with this family.
"They're good people, Jim," Chris said. Jim laughed as Trouble leaped to the edge of the bed and proceeded to claw her way back up to them. She then demanded attention from them while the Tribbles started knocking themselves against Chris' shoes. Chris scooped them up, "I would never have thought that these things have personalities, but they definitely do. Trib 1 is the quiet one, it'll play possum the most, while Trib 2 is the sneaky one. Scared the bejeezus out of me more than once."
"You heard about Sam?" Jim asked petting Trouble absently.
"Yeah, I'm glad he's turned his life around," Chris' voice drifted off as Jim fell asleep the tiny kitten in his lap. He left the room letting the nurses know about Trouble, "Let me know if she causes trouble, I'll be back in a few hours to pick her up." He ended up leaving the tribbles behind too, the nurses had fallen in love.
When he went back for his friends McCoy stopped and thanked him, "Sometimes, Mother Nature provides the best source of therapy. Better than anything we can provide."