Author's Note:

Greetings and salutations everyone and here is chapter set very early in the timeline after Nero's defeat. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you like the chapter.

I own nothing.

When Plants Have a Taste for Teenagers

It was one complete and utter mess of a mission and that was McCoy being exceptionally polite.

All previous visits, scans and Starfleet away teams had been unanimous in agreeing that although the planet had its share of natural disasters and predators, there was very little that was dangerous to humanoids. Bones felt that this should have been the first warning sign because the amount of times they'd heard that before and still ended up to their eyes in peril was ridiculous. As it was Jim had beamed down to the planet with a science team on a routine (McCoy really hated that word now) mission which just so happened to be Pavel's first away mission. So naturally it seemed most of the plant life suddenly decided to become carnivorous during this mission and to make things even better the plants were attracted to one form of prey…humans or more specifically teenage humans. Apparently, probably because the universe decided that it hated them today, the plants fed off a certain combination of hormones which were found in teenage humans and Starfleet had never discovered this because Pavel was the youngest recruit in history and they'd never had a teenager on active duty before. To top things off the plants used a unique chemical spray to paralyse their victims and it turned out to be the one thing in the universe Pavel was allergic to. This meant that he had a tiny timeframe to save the boy before his violent allergic reaction killed him and he had managed it with only literal seconds to spare.

He was now sat by Pavel's bedside across from Jim who was holding onto the kids hand like he was afraid that if he let go Pavel would disappear. McCoy could see that Jim was beating himself up about the whole thing and he thought it best to confront him about it when Pavel was better. The teen was most definitely well on the road to recovery but his body needed all the rest it could get so he'd probably be sleeping for a while. As such Leonard resigned himself to waiting with Jim as there was no way anything short of a crisis was going to pull the captain from the side of his charge.

And so they waited for another four hours until Pavel finally stirred into wakefulness, much to the delight of the two older men. The boy was still feeling weak and tired and was visibly shaken but he was certainly going to make a full recovery so McCoy headed off to tell the others the news letting Jim give the comfort the teen badly needed from him. In the few hours that followed Bones had to set a very strict timetable for visitors as it seemed everyone on the ship wanted to see Pavel and he ended up confiscating several gifts from well wishers that were definitely not suitable, bordering on illegal, (such as the large bottle of scotch Scotty tried to smuggle in). Finally the endless stream of visitors ceased and with the Medbay peaceful again McCoy went to check on Pavel one last time before turning in.

Pavel was sleeping soundly and so was Jim in the chair next to him with his hand once again holding the boy's. Sighing, Leonard softly made his way over and scooped the captain in his arms meaning to place him in a nearby bed, he hesitated when Pavel let out a whimper at the loss of contact with Jim and he stood there wondering what to do. He made his decision when Pavel whimpered again, the noise tugged at his heartstrings and the doctor soon lowered Jim onto Pavel's bed. Almost immediately the boy snuggled in closer to the captain's side in the same way a scared child would snuggle up to their mother and McCoy couldn't help but smile at the adorable sight, especially when Jim wrapped a protective arm around the teen. Carefully pulling the privacy curtains around the bed Leonard looked once more at the two before ruffling both the boys hair and retired to the next bed along so if he was needed by either of them he was right there.

When people found the destroyed remains of several plants scattered around the ship the next day they chose not to mention it.

PS-So nice and fluffy and please let me know what you thought and chapter suggestion are always welcome.