He wasn't allowed to see Spock when he first arrived. Chapel sat him on a bio-bed and Leonard watched as most of the landing party was brought in one at a time. The wounds varied from scratches to cracked ribs. Even a few hadn't made it out of the explosion. Kirk was the last to join them in sick bay. "Where is Spock?" he asked immediately. Leonard eyed Christine as she explained that he was indisposed. After about two hours, Leonard had finally had enough.

"I'm the CMO here, Christine. You can't stop me from seeing my own patients!"

"Right now, Doctor, you are a patient and you are going to sit down on that bed and wait until Dr. M'Benga or I tell you to leave."

He mumbled at this, glancing at the readings on the biobed. Everything was steady and he had minor cuts and bruises. Why were they keeping him from seeing Spock?

Finally, after enough whining from him and the captain, the two of them were allowed to see him. Leonard nearly tripped over himself trying to get through the curtain separating the first officer from the rest of sick bay.

Spock was asleep on the biobed. Bandages were wrapped around his head and his shoulder. His bare chest was covered in scrapes and dark marks. The two men stared down at him in silence. Leonard knew it wasn't a serious injury and that his Vulcan strength would have him up and running again in no time, but for some reason he felt as though they were surrounding his death bed.

After a few more moments of silence, he sighed and took a seat. He had been so wound up not being able to see Spock that he'd made himself tired. He leaned an elbow on the arm of the chair and covered his eye with his hand. Suddenly, the lights in sickbay seemed much brighter than normal.

This was his damn fault. He should have called for someone to beam them up immediately instead of allowing Spock to take control. He was a Vulcan for Christ's sake, there wasn't a violent bone in his body. Why was he depending on Spock to fight for him?

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Bones," Jim said suddenly. Leonard glanced up at his friend.

"Oh what, you're in my head now too?" He raised an eyebrow. Jim cracked a little smile.

"No," he said simply. "I just know you that well. This was a mission gone terribly wrong. All we can do is…notify Starfleet and get the hell out of here. And that's what we've done." He waited for some response, but Leonard didn't give him one. Only a halfhearted grunt.

The two resumed their silence for a bit as Leonard tried to take measured breaths in time to the beeping of the bio-bed. Finally, Jim spoke again. "Can I ask you something? About Spock." This caught the doctor's attention and he looked up at the captain again.

"Sure."

Jim hesitated, as if he weren't sure how to word his thoughts. He opened his mouth a few times, but nothing came out.

"Out with it, Jim."

Kirk took a breath. "Alright. Vulcans. They have a different way of…having relationships, don't they? I mean, they have to be bonded to their mate for life, right? And now Spock doesn't have some…Vulcan woman waiting for him. So does that mean you're…bonded?"

Leonard found it interesting that Jim was being so careful with him. Usually they'd speak about relationship plainly, like the raunchy military men they were. But this was Spock they were talking about, so perhaps it was something a bit more serious.

"You mean like…connected in the head? No."

"Doesn't that happen automatically?"

"Automatically…when? We've had those Vulcan melding things, but we aren't hooked permanently."

"Well I mean…when you have sex. Doesn't it automatically hook you together? Like a computer."

"I wouldn't know."

Jim opened his mouth again to continue, but stopped abruptly. "You haven't…slept together?" Leonard shook his head slowly. It was pounding and he was suddenly so exhausted. "I just assumed. You've sort of been seeing each other for a while and well…you're…"

"A horny old man?"

"…Well, yes." They both laughed.

"No. It's different with Spock. You're right, sex with Vulcans is some god-damn religious experience. I don't think I'm quite ready to share my head with someone yet." He looked over at Spock. He looked just as peaceful sleeping as he normally did. Amazing. "At least not 24/7."

It would sort of be nice though, he thought. Then they would be able to communicate all the time, regardless of if they were together or not. Would that be annoying? Would they ever get any privacy? Exactly how strong was the bond? All questions he was afraid to ask for more than one reason. Now it might be too late to ask them. He leaned up and touched Spock's hand which was resting near him on top of the covers. He felt cold, of course.

"Do you love him, Bones?"

Damn it. He had to pry into everything, didn't he?

Leonard nodded slowly. "Yea, I think so."

Jim didn't reply, only smiled a little.