In the academy, McCoy is reliably informed, Captains are trained to reassure their crew in extraordinary circumstances. As they prepare to fly into the sun, Jim murmurs - "May fortune favor the foolish", and McCoy is not reassured.

At warp 3 the ship starts to shake, trying to dislodge them all from their seats.

At warp 4, objects clatter to the ground, and McCoy's eyes dart around nervously as he plasters himself to his seat. He reassures himself by keeping an eye on everyone in the ship despite how little he can do for them at the moment (he can't see Scotty and anything could be happening in Engineering but he has enough to worry uselessly about and he can't think of that now).

At warp 7 the shaking has become terrible, Sulu nearly yelling to be heard above the ship tearing itself to pieces. McCoy stares forward, wide eyed, and feels the mind-numbing terror start to drag him away from the incomprehensible present. He's going to die here, in the vacuum, in a ship that isn't even their own, hurling himself into the sun…

McCoy's brain nearly whites out until an explosion rips through the air beside him, Uhura crouching over her consol and waving off their concern. "I'm okay! I'm alright!"

"Steady!" Jim yells, and the bulkheads crack and steam billows and there is nothing that McCoy can do for Uhura, nothing to be done for any of them and the sun burns into his retinas and then the ship lurches forward, suddenly at war with the gravity wrenching them downwards inwards farther and -

Consciousness comes in whisps, brushing at the coils of incomprehensible familiar nonsense that had taken him during their travel. Sound filters through the haze in his head, eventually accompanied by sensations: burning-prickling at his fingertips against the seat, the clutching of his too-rough collar and too-tight shoes.

His mouth tastes disgusting, as if he has slept for far too long, and the bridge smells of acrid burning smoke. The last sense to return is vision, a blurry haze as he picks his head up and blinks to clear his vision. The others already seem to be stirring around him - he really is too old for this, apparently - but he finds his head clearing quickly, almost as if he is… snapping into place with the reality around him.

Well, he never would've thought he'd find a worse experience than time travel on the Enterprise, but here he was. He glances over at Uhura, but she really does seem alright, already monitoring the communications no-doubt emanating from the planet below.

Jim calls for the viewscreen to be activated and Earth's blue-green form appears below them. "...Earth," Jim murmurs. "But when? Spock?" And Jim is wheeling, tuning in on Spock who has been confidently checking his controls. With a jolt of amused humor Bones notes that Spock only has memories of operating Klingon controls, and has functionally never re-used Federation technology.

"Judging by the pollution content of the atmosphere, I believe we have arrived at the latter half of the 20th century," Spock notes. Smog, Spock. The word you're looking for is smog, but you wouldn't understand me if I told you.

Upon their arrival two things happen in close succession: Uhura excitedly picks up whale song mysteriously located in the city of San Francisco, and Scotty calls Kirk and Spock down to engineering to deal with an exciting new problem. Apparently time travel was too much to ask of their dilithium crystals, which are proceeding to decrystalize.

Their hopeful solution to this, (proposed by Spock, Jim had informed him meaningfully) was to use nuclear power to recrystalize their dilithium. Now, no-one had ever recrystalized dilithium before, which meant they were inventing an entirely new solution to crystalization in the backwater of the 20th century using one of the most potentially destructive powers known to man.

Frankly, all this ought to have McCoy even more freaked out than normal, but it almost felt like he'd hit a tipping point. There was no going back now - they were stuck here and if they never got back to Earth… at least he could hope and imagine someone else had saved their future planet. Everything felt so removed now, so fake, that he couldn't even lose his head over their potential impending doom.

At least if they were stuck here, he supposed, it was nice that Spock and Jim were getting on so well. He wondered what Spock thought, having his first road trip with the old gang turn into this… but at least Spock would have them with him. Until that Vulcan lifespan meant he outlived them all… but McCoy didn't want to think about that.

Somehow, they would get home. With Jim's guts and Spock's smarts - mindwiped though he may be - not to mention Scotty's know-how they'd get home again. The more this feels like one of their missions - insane shenanigans mixed with guts and glory - the more confident he finds himself that everything will - must be - alright. And in the meantime… the reality of the probe seems far away, faced with the peaceful calm of the planet below.

Now that they have time to take a breath and wait for Jim and Spock to return to the bridge, McCoy has another chance to figure out what to do about Spock. He wonders if he hasn't been approaching all this the wrong way. After all, the first time they got to know each other, Jim and Spock bonded before Spock and McCoy. Maybe Spock needed Jim to reintroduce him to the nebulous world of emotion before being ready for McCoy's brand of illogic.

It hurt, the idea that Spock wasn't… ready to deal with him… but what mattered was that he got there eventually. Leonard could back off for a while, right? Give him some time to adjust to Jim, someone he clicked with… they had more time, now, on this journey.

And maybe, if all Spock had time to do was reconnect with Jim, if McCoy could somehow encourage that relationship to happen… well, if they all survived this then there was time for him and Spock to reconnect too. He'd carried Spock's katra. Surely the Vulcan must be curious about him, and maybe the best way to connect was through Jim.

McCoy nodded to himself - Spock would tolerate Jim's presence as the admiral, if nothing else, and hopefully they'd start clicking together before too long. Then, once Spock and Jim were back together, McCoy could work his way back into their little relationship.

And really… it is nice to get another look at Earth of the past. McCoy has always nursed an interest in what life was like on Earth so long ago, although he wouldn't call himself a historian, per se.

After Jim and Spock return to the bridge and order their little ship to glide closer to the surface, the vague shapes and outlines become far more clear as Sulu adjusts the viewscreen for their new altitude.

"San Francisco," Sulu murmurs as they watch the nighttime cityscape stretch out below them. "I was born there."

The city looks peaceful in the night, belying the undeveloped and aggressive nature of it's 20th century inhabitants. Still, none of the flaws of human nature are on display at the moment… only the twinkling lights of illuminated windows and the steady trek of passing cars.

"It doesn't look all that different," McCoy responds, almost reverent. So many people, living their lives, going about their days, spending time with their families… even across the centuries some things do stay the same.

Jim directs their descent into Golden Gate Park, before beginning to hand out assignments. "We'll divide into teams. Commanders Uhura and Chekov are assigned to the uranium problem. Dr McCoy, you, Mr Scott and Commander Sulu will convert us a whale tank."

Frankly, McCoy is glad to have a specific assignment to carry out, and one that promises to be relatively free of safety hazards like getting his head blown off no less. Mostly, though, he's glad that Jim has a plan, that he knows his part in the plan, and that things really do feel like those old days.

"Oh, joy," McCoy intones, because it's the principle of the thing.

"...While Captain Spock and I attempt to trace these whale songs to their source."

Somehow McCoy is not surprised that Jim has elected to bring Spock along, but this does fit nicely into his new plan of getting the two together before anything else. However… McCoy foresees a continuation of the Enterprise's ongoing struggle in blending Spock into a pre-contact culture, and he exchanges a glance with Spock who seems to understand after a second's silent conversation.

After a second Jim seems to come to the same conclusion.

"...It's a forgone conclusion none of these people have ever seen an extra-terrestrial before," Jim murmers.

Spock ponders this for a moment, before wordlessly reaching down to tear at a section of his robe. Finally achieving a mathematically perfect strip of white cloth, the man reaches up, maintaining eye contact with Jim, to wrap the strip around his head, over his eyebrows and ears. Upon achieving the desired effect (something of a homeless hippie with jaundace) Spock holds Jim's gaze for a moment longer before dropping to meet McCoy's eyes, as if looking for approval.

The straightforward thinking, the newest arrival in a long list of Spock's ridiculous incognito outfits, the wholehearted earnestness in the Vulcan's demeanour - all of it combined to be so like the old days and so Spock that McCoy finds himself unable to repress an irresistible wave of fondness. It steals over his face, twisting his lips into a smile and making him shake his head as he glances up to see that the same thing has happened to Jim.

His moment of doubt earlier in the hallway is so foreign to him now that it may as well have happened to a different man. Yes, Spock is still Spock, he just needs… a bit of help to get put back together again. Thankfully for Spock, he has his friends, and he has his doctor. And they've always been enough before.