Twenty

Leonard McCoy couldn't decide who he wanted to kill first, Jim Kirk or Victoria More.

"Have you found them yet, Scotty?" he demanded for the fourth time in ten minutes, keeping his ears glued to his communicator.

"She's gone into the tunnel! Unless she sends out a signal, I can't –"

"Dammit, man, is there no way you can reach her?!"

"Sorry, Doctor, I can't find her!"

"Doctor McCoy," a different voice came onto the comm. link, smooth and emotionless.

McCoy groaned. This was the last thing he needed. "What is it, Spock?"

"I believe it is time you returned to the ship."

McCoy scowled. "We have two officers down here, and one of them is the captain. What do you suggest we do about that?"

"Dr. Woodville is trained to return the captain to us should she find him, Doctor. It would be best if you return now, to avoid any more casualties."

"Spock, stop talking about Jim dyin' as if this is a simulation!" hissed McCoy. "We have fifteen minutes until the next earthquake. Scotty, where the hell is Woodville?"

"I haven't –"

"Scotty, either you tell me you've found her and Jim or you beam me down to the crater she was in so I can look for 'em myself," snapped McCoy. He heard both men begin to argue and cut them off abruptly. "Do it now, Scotty, or I swear to whatever god there is I will shoot you full of the nastiest stomach flu this side of the universe and dump you onto the brig if I open my eyes and I'm back on the ship instead of in another crater."

Scotty muttered something incomprehensible, and the golden swirls of energy began to pulsate around McCoy again. He barely noticed them this time. He blinked and, just as he had expected, he was in another crater. Scotty had taken his threat seriously.

"McCoy?" it was Sulu now. "We've got Jim, Tori just sent him up. Apparently, there was a hole in the tunnel."

McCoy sighed with relief. "Great. Get me out of here then."

"We can't leave yet. We still haven't got Tori," said Sulu grimly. "The signal wasn't strong enough to beam up two people. Jim says she was going to try and make a run for the crater."

"For Christ's sake," muttered McCoy. "I'll go in and find her. Just give me a timer on my damn watch."

Sulu did as he asked and scowling darkly, McCoy charged towards the tunnel. He was already planning a hundred different ways he could banish Victoria More to the furthest corner of medbay for the next few years, hopefully keeping her out of trouble. Of course she was going to be as headstrong and reckless as Jim. Of course. She had probably taught Jim everything he knew. It irked him, endlessly, because now here he was running through a tunnel he didn't want to be in, all because the damn woman had decided to play the hero and he didn't want blood on his hands.

The tunnel veered east, and he prayed it wasn't going to meander endlessly until he found her. Threatening Scotty to send him here had been a good idea theoretically, but McCoy hadn't thought this through. Finding them alive meant running for his life before the next earthquake struck, and making sure the other two didn't end up dead. His pulse thundered in his ears.

Panting, McCoy rounded a corner and collided with something soft. Reflexively, he reached out a hand to steady himself, and ended up grabbing Victoria's arm. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and her mouth opened, probably ready to question him, but he cut her off.

"Seventy five seconds," he grunted, already turning around and tugging her back in the direction he had come from.

"What the hell are you doing here?" demanded Victoria. She was panting as she tried to keep up with him – the tunnel was too narrow for both of them to run side-by-side. McCoy realized this, and immediately took a step back so Victoria was in front of him.

He said the first thing he could think of. "Jim'll kill me if you die."

Victoria let out a breathless laugh. "You did not have to risk your life to be a good friend to Jim."

"Shut up and keep running!"

Victoria obeyed. They saw the mouth of the crater just as the ground underneath their feet began to tremble. Victoria hesitated, a classic rookie mistake. Away missions were clearly not her thing, no matter how adept she had been at handling the rescue operation for them. McCoy pushed her forward firmly, only briefly resting his hand against a crumbling wall to add more force. Immediately, he felt something heavy knock against his hand amidst the falling debris, and pain shot through his arm up to his elbow, making him dizzy. It was only an extensive amount of training and living with Jim that made McCoy keep going forward, knowing what would happened if he stopped, and though both he and Victoria managed to dive onto the solid ground of the crater just as the tunnel behind them collapsed into dust, they weren't completely unscathed.

The blood gushing from his hand, and the awkward position his wrist was twisted in, told him all he needed to know. "Shit," swore McCoy. He unceremoniously yanked Victoria up with his good hand and quickly pulled out his communicator. "McCoy to Scott."

"What the hell did you do?" demanded Victoria. She wrenched his hand away from his chest and her eyes widened in horror. "Oh my god, how did –"

"You safe, Doctor?" Scotty's voice interrupted her, and McCoy immediately turned to his communicator.

"Get us out of here, Scotty."

"Aye, Doctor."

McCoy had never been more grateful for the nasty feeling that came for a split second with transporting. They were back in the blink of an eye, and McCoy pushed past the few people crowded around the room, heading straight for the door. He was cradling his hand against his chest, hoping nobody would notice. He was lucky, until he realized there was a nurse hovering nearby, probably on duty in case of an emergency, and he pointed to her immediately. "You!" he barked. The woman flinched, and then her eyes widened when she saw his hand. McCoy ignored her expression. "Where's the captain?"

"He has a concussion and a few broken bones, Dr. M'Benga was checking him out when I left," said the nurse immediately. She looked uncomfortable, but at least she was answering his questions promptly. "He said to wait for you before administering any hyposprays. Do you need –"

"Double dose of painkillers and something for all this blood," said McCoy, holding out his good hand. The nurse hesitated for only a second before digging into the medical bag hanging off her shoulder and, with shaking hands, handing him four hyposprays. McCoy frowned. "What's this one?"

"It'll hold the bone in place until you can get a cast put on it," she said meekly. "I assumed it was broken."

"Thank god for small miracles," muttered McCoy. He waved away the nurse's hand and flicked the cap off the hyposprays, injecting them quickly into his neck, one after the other. The nurse looked faintly horrified at his actions, and McCoy knew the combination wasn't exactly the safest, but he ignored her. The pain was already dulling in his hand, but he didn't check to see how well it had worked. He was halfway out the door before he paused, turning back reluctantly. Uhura was standing next to Victoria, patting her on the back as the woman bent down, hands on her knees, to catch her breath. Her hair was messy, there was dirt all over her uniform, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. As she straightened up, they locked eyes. "You alright?" called out McCoy.

The room was noisy and full of people, and he wasn't sure she'd even heard him. But her eyes were clear as she nodded, tersely, and he took it to mean she didn't need any help. He turned back to the nurse. "Medbay, now."

!

"If you die on me, Jim Kirk, I'll kill you all over again."

Jim snorted, then wheezed when the laugh made his ribs hurt. "C'mon, Tori. Couldn't you let me be the hero, just once?"

"Why do you need to be the hero when I'm around?" demanded Victoria. She rubbed at her eyes with her fists angrily, refusing to let any tears fall. "How long have I been saving your ass?"

"Since I was three," said Jim dutifully. His hand touched hers. "Relax, Tori. I'm fine. Bones said it was just an allergic reaction. I get those all the time."

"I know," sniffing, Victoria pushed his hair off his forehead to check his temperature, and sighed with relief when she realized he wasn't warm. "Infection will have worn off by now, I think."

"Then why can't I fall asleep?" whined Jim. "Bones gave me a shit load of painkillers, aren't they supposed to knock you out?"

Victoria's lips twitched. "He's probably given you the anti-drowsy ones to punish you for being an idiot."

Jim groaned, and Victoria rolled her eyes. When she had rushed in Medbay a few minutes behind Dr. McCoy, she had learned that, despite only having a few broken ribs and a concussion, Jim was in surgery until further notice. Apparently there had been something in the air that had reacted adversely with his already weak immune system, leading to a severe reaction that had prompted Dr. McCoy to yell at the on-call doctor, make two nurses cry, and then wheel Jim into the surgical suite while still yelling at another doctor for not waiting for him until he began to administer drugs. Not knowing what to do, Victoria had hesitated by the doors, until Dr. M'Benga had swooped in and, under pretext of checking her over for any injuries, had allowed her to stay in sickbay until Jim had been wheeled out of surgery. He had given her something for the pain in her leg, but had been unwilling to offer her anything else - only McCoy knew what her system could and couldn't take, and clearly Victoria was in no mood to enlighten M'Benga as to her medications.

The blonde captain had, of course, wasted no time in recruiting Victoria to sit by him when he had come out of surgery, but Victoria had only waited until someone had drawn a curtain around them for privacy before beginning to berate him, in harsh whispers, for being an absolute idiot for going into the tunnel when she had specifically told him not to. By the time Jim had begun to complain about being in pain, however, she had simply started threatening to kill him if he didn't shut up.

Even now, Jim looked like he wanted to argue, but he seemed to see something in Victoria's expression that made him quieten. Instead, like the overgrown child he was, he insisted on holding her hand as he tried to sleep. Victoria didn't even argue, allowing him to monopolize her right hand whilst she used her left to stroke his hair, like she had done when he was a child. It was matted with blood and sweat, which of course made her want to start crying again, but she resisted the urge.

Despite his protests, Jim fell asleep fairly quickly. The bustle outside the cordoned off area she was sitting in was still loud, but as it calmed she finally became aware of three particular voices that she recognized.

"I didn't know the Captain and Natira were so close," Nurse Riley was saying. "You don't think –"

"Nah, she treats him like a kid. They might know each other from back in the day," that was M'Benga. His voice was strained, but clearly he wasn't giving away that he knew anything. If he even knew anything.

"You two can stop gossiping like little old ladies now," ah, that was Dr. McCoy. He didn't sound pleased. "Nurse Riley, I think Spock needs another shot of his meds. M'Benga, do a sweep and then take the night off."

Nurse Riley walked off to do as she was told, her heels clacking against the floor loudly. Victoria didn't hear M'Benga leave, but she did hear him speak, quieter now. "You're not gonna confront her here, are you, Leonard? She's hurt pretty bad, her leg's giving her some trouble."

Victoria held her breath. She was curious as to the answer as well, almost morbidly so. Would he confront her? He had every right to. They had kind of, sort of, been friends, and she had used his blind faith in Jim to her advantage. Not to mention making him misuse his authority as the CMO by giving her the medications she needed without actually knowing why he was doing this. He was probably furious with her. The suppressed rage she had heard in his voice was obviously directed at her. Hadn't Jim and Sulu always said McCoy was terrifying when he was well and truly angry?

She was so screwed.

McCoy didn't answer M'Benga's question, but before she had time to school her expression to look as though she hadn't been listening, the curtain was suddenly pulled back and there he stood. It barely took a second for his eyes to lock with hers.

Only, he didn't look angry. He looked tired. Victoria immediately felt a large amount of sympathy for him. His best friend had almost died, he had almost died, and a large number of their crew were injured. His hand was hurt, from saving her no less, which meant he wasn't able to help as much as he could. The thought alone made her eyes sting with tears again, because she knew nothing made someone feel as horrible as when they couldn't be useful.

She didn't know if McCoy noticed her tears, but if he did he didn't say anything. Wordlessly, he walked past her chair towards the PADD which was held all the data from the machines that were monitoring Jim's vitals. He skimmed it quickly, but his other hand, now wrapped in a slightly hasty-looking cast, was holding the railing of the cot for support, and the bags under his eyes showed how exhausted he really was. And he was giving M'Benga the night off, which meant he would be the only doctor on call. She winced, but still didn't speak. For the first time, she was afraid of what he would say.

When he finally did speak, it wasn't what she expected. "Get up."

Victoria looked at him, her eyes wide. "What –"

"Stand," he didn't sound like he wanted her to argue. Wordlessly, Victoria stood, gently extracting her hand from Jim's as she did. Without looking into her eyes directly, McCoy took out a tricorder from his pocket and ran it over her. It beeped loudly when it passed her shoulder, and when he pointed it to her leg. McCoy glanced at the screen, but whatever he saw there didn't seem to surprise him. To her surprise, however, he gestured for her to sit down on the bed next to Jim's.

If anyone had been watching them Victoria was sure they would have thought it strange, how she seemed to understand his actions without him having to explain them. As soon as she sat down, she knew it was because his trained eye had picked up on her injuries, and she also knew he had assumed she had had them treated, which was why he hadn't come to her before. Now she was uncomfortable. Leonard McCoy was too damn nice for his own good.

He still didn't speak as he put the tricorder down next to her on the bed. He started with her leg, pulling up a chair and sitting down so he was level with her knee. She could feel the warmth of his hand through the fabric of her pants as he gently prodded the sore muscle, twisting the limb slightly as if to see how much damage had been done. Victoria winced as he touched a particularly sensitive area, but McCoy didn't need to look at her face to know that was where she was hurt. Suddenly, there was a hypospray in his hand and he had released it exactly where she had been in pain. Now, of course, there was a delicious numbness there that she appreciated.

Seemingly satisfied that one thing was out of the way, McCoy stood and came behind her, and Victoria automatically moved her loose hair out of the way to give him access to her shoulder. She could feel his warm hands once again, only this time it hurt much, much more. She almost hissed in pain, and his hand stilled where it had been.

"That hurt?" he asked. His tone was business-like, but not unkind. Victoria screwed her eyes shut and nodded. The throbbing pain was giving her a headache now; it had been easier to ignore it when all she had to worry about was Jim. "It's dislocated," informed McCoy. He almost sounded as though he was sorry for her now. "I'm gonna have to reset it myself."

"Your hand is injured," said Victoria. She didn't turn around to face him. "You should let someone else do it."

"You're my patient," he said, as if that solved everything. Victoria opened her mouth to argue, but suddenly he had twisted her arm, and with a sickening pop that almost made her vomit, he jerked her shoulder straight. For a few seconds that felt like hours, there was only stinging pain, but it was quickly followed by the cool numbness that came from the hypospray he had injected into her neck almost immediately after. "Done," said McCoy needlessly. She felt him move away from behind her. "Lie down and get some rest."

Victoria sighed. "Listen, McCoy, I –"

"No," he shook his head, and Victoria looked at him in surprise. He didn't look upset, or even angry. He just looked tired. "Look, I get you're guilty, or sad, or whatever," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "But I've lost two crew-mates, and just had to call time of death on another one. So, I'm sorry you feel bad, but I can't deal with your apologies, or excuses right now. Get some rest, here or in your room, I don't care, and then just stay out of my way."

Victoria didn't say a word in response, and McCoy simply updated her patient file and put the PADD back into its place, departing for his office without even once looking in her direction.