Chapter Fourteen
David yawned as he awoke from a restless night. The first thing he did was check on the person sharing his bed, a stubbornly fully-clothed Christopher, sleeping uncomfortably on his side in his jeans and shirt from the previous day.
He had finally fallen asleep around four in the morning having been part coaxed and part dragged up to the bed by David who refused to let him go home.
Chris had barely said a word, he'd spent hours staring into space, sometimes with silent tears rolling down his cheeks, but other times nothing, just blankness.
David shifted closer, wrapping an arm around him.
He needed the comfort right now, his raw emotional turmoil was leaking through their bond and David could feel just how badly the support was required.
He knew he wanted to be there for Chris, even if only as a friend, to help him make sense of it all, to help him come to terms with the news of his twin's illness and the fact it had been kept from him.
Chris tensed slightly in his arms and David gave him a small, comforting squeeze, letting him know that he was awake and ready to listen.
The first words out of his mouth were not the ones he had expected.
"Thank you," Chris whispered and David hesitated for a moment.
"No… don't thank me. It's what I'm here for," he said, giving him another squeeze. Chris exhaled slowly.
"Are we… spooning, right now?" he asked and David chuckled quietly.
"I guess so, sorry, that's my bad, my bed isn't really big enough for both of us to-"
"No. I… I like it. It's warm and kind of… nice. Never really done this," Chris trailed off and David didn't press for him to explain.
"I don't know what to do," Chris said blankly and David nodded to show he was listening.
"I feel like I want to talk to him, but the last thing I want to do is stress him out… I mean… he's a dick for keeping it a secret, but I'm more of a dick for not noticing something so obvious right in front of my face. I should have known it was something serious when he took a semester off school… I mean… there's no way he'd have done that for no real reason. I just… I'm worried," he finished and turned a little so he could look at David whilst he spoke to him.
"It's only natural to be worried, but from what I know he's got the situation under control and they're going to get him fixed right up. Did you hear he could see a light the other day at Scotty's party?" David tried to twist the conversation to a more positive angle.
"Yeah, Jim told me. It's exciting. Can't wait to show him stuff, if I… y'know, get the chance," Chris said sadly and David frowned.
"Nuh-uh, no negativity in here. You will get to show him stuff, ok? He's going to be alright. I mean, you look at him, he's finished his chemo and he didn't even lose his damn hair! He's lost what, like ten pounds? He can put that back on in a week or two with our help; he eats meat right, or is that you?"
Chris sighed.
"Seren is vegan, Leo is vegetarian, and I'll eat anything," he explained for what felt like the millionth time in his twenty years of life.
"Damn I'd hate to be your parent, cooking three different meals all the time? Surprised Jim didn't just give you all the same and tell you to eat it or starve," David chuckled and Chris gave a very small smile.
"Jim's a pushover; you just have to know how to play him."
They both stayed very still, David very aware of he fact he had his arm around Chris, and Chris very aware of what that was doing to his heart rate.
"Are you… are we… what is this?" Chris asked quietly and David took a moment to think.
"I'm… helping you, with this whole Leo situation. I'll be here for you… y'know… whatever you need. If that's a hug, I can do that, or if it's a late night drive, fast food and a conversation to take your mind off it, I can do that too."
Chris nodded.
David answered his next question without it needing to be asked.
"My feelings haven't changed, but I know I was being an ass. I'll be more sensitive, I'm really sorry," he mumbled and Chris nodded again.
"Sure. Don't uh… don't mention it. Just so long as we both know where we are with everything," he said and David held back his sigh at the heartbreak seeping into Chris's voice.
He felt strange around him. His palms were sweaty, and his mouth was dry, and sometimes he forgot what he wanted to say. He had a vague idea what that meant, but didn't plan on acting on it whilst Chris was already dealing with so much, and needed time himself to process the shift in his feelings. Never did he think he'd be attracted to Christopher in this way, but it felt as though that was what was beginning to happen.
Chris sniffled and David quickly looked at him to make sure he was alright.
"I'm fine. I just have a cold," he said quickly and David rolled his eyes at the feeble lie as he saw Chris wipe away a stray tear with the back of his hand and did his best to provide a distraction.
"Come on lazy-ass, get up, let's go get pancakes or something, I'm starved!"
Jim stretched as he woke up and grimaced. His back hurt. A lot.
"Spock you broke me," he mumbled as he buried his face into the Vulcan's neck.
"I believe you were extremely keen on your body being contorted in such a way Jim."
"Yeah but… now it hurts," he whined.
"I did warn you at the time that-"
"I know, I know, but at the time I didn't have any blood in my brain to make an informed decision," Jim chuckled.
They'd gone out for dinner the previous evening, and dinner had led to a long drive to a place they both knew would be deserted and a lengthy conversation, mostly about how sorry Spock was for being away for so long. Jim always liked it when Spock brought it up first, showing that he was still thinking about it and knew he wasn't entirely forgiven.
Jim also liked it when Spock showed him how sorry he was for all the night's he'd missed, and Jim had found himself incredibly grateful for how roomy the inside of their car really was.
They'd snuck in like a pair of naughty teenager's sometime around three in the morning and had crawled into bed.
Jim closed his eyes and nuzzled his face into the warm skin, breathing in Spock's comforting smell but also picking up on something else.
"Hey… do you smell… waffles?" he asked, moving away from Spock and sniffing at the air.
"I am indeed able to detect the smell of waffles."
Jim rolled his eyes at Spock's over-wording of his affirmative response and slipped out of bed, padding downstairs in just his boxers.
"Hey Seren, you want to make a few extra and oh-"Jim stopped abruptly as he realised the person in the kitchen was definitely not his daughter.
Emily blushed bright, vivid pink and did her best to hide behind the kitchen counter. She was wearing a damp-looking sweater and boxers that Jim recognised as belonging to his youngest son.
"Good morning," he smirked, covering his crotch with both hands seeing as he didn't want to be enormously inappropriate and wander around in his underwear in front of her.
She squeaked and nodded a hello in return.
"Those aren't your boxers," he pointed out and she shook her head.
The look of terror and embarrassment on her face made Jim want to either laugh or hug her. Maybe both.
"Leo still sleeping?"
She nodded silently.
"So… you uh… you're wearing his boxers? Kind of a giveaway as to… uh… you guys were… careful right?" he asked, amazed at how awkward he felt asking the question. The twins were twenty years old, and it was totally normal for them to be having sex. He knew plenty about Christopher's sex life, more than he wanted or needed to know, but the thought of Leo actually doing that, and with Emily McCoy no less, was almost too much information for his brain to process at once.
She nodded again.
"I mean I knew you would have been, just, figured I'd check. He's had y'know, the talk, I just-"
"I'm gonna go… back upstairs… now," Emily mumbled, interrupting him.
Her face was so red that it was nearing the shade of Uhura's uniform dress.
"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you." Jim looked around and snatched up a pair of pants that were sticking half out of the dryer. They were Spock's and a little too long, but he pulled them on anyway, grabbing a shirt to go along with them, hoping that by getting dressed she's feel a little less awkward with him being in the kitchen.
Emily was staring at the floor intently and Jim sniffed the air again.
"Your waffles are gonna burn, and Leo likes them like… almost raw," he pointed out and Emily quickly switched off the waffle-maker and opened it to retrieve them.
She said nothing and avoided Jim's eye, scurrying from the room and not even taking the food with her.
"Emily?" he asked after her and she paused, glancing back at him, pushing her messy hair back off her face.
"I didn't see anything, I didn't know you were here, alright?" he said and she hesitated for a moment before nodding, a small grateful smile on her face as she started to rush towards the stairs.
Jim exhaled slowly and snatched up the forgotten waffles, putting them on a plate and smothering them in syrup before eating them himself, unsure if he wanted to laugh at what had just happened or not.
"Oh my god! Jim is here and I just saw him in the kitchen, and he totally knows!" Emily hissed as she climbed back into Leo's bed, ditching her sweatshirt again and leaving her in only his boxers.
She gave him a few seconds and realised he was still fast asleep.
She leant over to get a look at his face, and wasn't able to resist placing a small kiss on his forehead as she saw his peaceful expression.
His skin felt strange against her lips. Cold. Clammy. Instinctively she placed her hand flat on his forehead.
He was certainly too cold.
"Hey Leo, are you alright?" she asked quietly and he didn't stir.
A sick feeling of dread overcoming her, she pressed her ear to his mouth to check for certain he was actually breathing.
He was. Slowly. And very deeply, as if he was lost in the furthest realms of sleep.
Gently at first she shook his shoulder, trying to wake him.
"Hey, wake up," she tried.
He didn't respond at all.
"Wake up, I made waffles and I think Jim stole them so we need to make more," she whined, prodding him gently but firmly in the ribs.
Emily knew Leo was a heavy sleeper but this was taking it to extremes.
Sighing with frustration she lay back down beside him, letting her mind wander to the previous night.
They had so much to talk about.
He had so much to talk about. A hell of a lot of explaining needed to be done.
Emily tried to wake him again by shaking his shoulder, a feeling of unease starting to blossom as she realised nothing she was trying was working.
"You're not in there are you," she said slowly, realising the part of her mind Leo had touched last night was feeling very cold and empty again.
After ten more minutes Emily felt tears pricking at her eyes.
Leo wouldn't wake up no matter what she tried. As a last resort she peeled open one of his eyelids. His pupils were fully dilated and didn't seem to react to the change of light.
She scrambled for her clothes, knowing she needed help and once quickly dressed rushed to find Jim. He was sitting at the table in the dining area, still looking a little bit bemused by what he'd witnessed earlier.
He took one look at her tearstained face and sprang up from his seat.
"Emily, are you-"
"I can't wake him up. I've tried everything, and I don't know w-what to do," she spluttered as she began to cry.
"Hey, shh, I'm sure he's fine, let's go take a look," Jim said calmly, but she couldn't ignore the worry that flashed across his face.
Leonard McCoy was silent as he stood beside Jim.
They both watched the situation unfolding before them, both wishing it was untrue, both willing it to change.
Emily clutched at Leo's hand determinedly, but they could both see she was wearing thin already, tears threatening to spill over.
Jim didn't know what to do, and even the calming waves being passed directly into his mind from Spock did nothing to ease his discomfort.
Leo had slipped into a healing trance.
Spock had explained thoroughly what it meant, and that he wouldn't come out of it until his body was ready to.
He'd been moved to the hospital so a close watch could be kept on him, and Jim and Bones were in the room adjoining his, watching their two children through the one-way viewing glass.
Jim let his forehead rest against the cool glass before him and slowly exhaled.
"I'm sorry Jim. If there was a way I could get him out of-"
"No. Don't worry. It's what he needs, so we just need to try our best not to worry," Jim dismissed him quickly.
He was angry at his friend. The way he'd acted towards Chris was completely unacceptable and not just unacceptable, but entirely out of character, so much so that Jim now felt Bones was unpredictable and was being very cautious around him.
The doctor was silent beside him and Jim glanced at him, surprised to find him looking clearly upset, something he rarely saw.
"Jim… I'm sorry about yesterday with Chris. I shouldn't have spoken to him that way, and I damn sure shouldn't have put my hands on him like that… I… it's no excuse but I just feel everythin' boiled over, y'know?"
Jim sighed and turned to face the older man.
"I do know, but I also know that no matter how angry any of your kids made me, I would never-"
"I feel awful. Think he'd accept it if I apologised?"
Jim glanced at the unconscious young man in the bed, face sickly pale against the white sheets.
"I don't know. Probably. He knows about Leo now, and he knows that Spock I kept it from him, so he's probably more concerned about that, and whatever amount of shit he's still dealing with where David's concerned," Jim sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
"He was in David's room this morning. I heard 'em mumblin' to each other. Makin' progress if they're having sleepovers," Bones shrugged and Jim cocked his brow.
"Whatever happened to 'damn it Jim, none of your kids better get with any of my kids'… finally decided they're allowed to now? Come on Bones, it was always gonna happen… they're all so close in age and everything. I feel like between those four it was almost inevitable," Jim said and the doctor nodded, defeated.
"Carol gave me one hell of a talkin' to about it. I just… could never picture Chris and David. I always… I don't know, I figured sure one twin and Emily, and pretty early on I knew I wanted it to be Leo because he's always been so sweet on her. But David is such a… well I don't know. He puts it about a bit," he said and Jim smirked slightly.
"Him and Chris are like two peas in a pod in that respect."
"Well I know that. And I damn well remember what I was gettin' up to back at the Academy, but I just… this bonding? I can't see either of them staying faithful. They both got a lot of growin' up to do before either of them'll be ready for it," he said and Jim nodded, having also reached a similar conclusion himself.
"That's for them to figure out. From what I understand at this point David has told Chris he doesn't want anything to do with him," Jim said in a low voice as the door behind them opened. He turned to glance at Joanna, standing in her new cadet reds and having come straight from class.
"That's typical David though. Knee-jerk reaction to everything, and he normally goes back on himself eventually once he pulls his head out of his ass. How was class Jo?" he asked, turning to his eldest daughter.
Jim looked back to Emily and Leo. He just wanted to wrap her in a hug. She was sitting slumped in the chair beside his bed, lifeless hand clutched in hers, distraught expression on her face that summed up pretty much how he felt himself.
Spock had mentioned to him the possibility of this happening, if the stress on his body grew too great, if he could no longer cope. Jim guessed that whatever Leo and Emily had got up to the previous night had been far too much for him, not just physically but emotionally, and by weakening his mental shields he'd pushed himself one step too far.
"How is he?" Joanna asked and Jim closed his eyes and took a few seconds to regain control over his emotions.
The sickening feeling of concern, of pure fear that Leo might never wake up again. That after all the progress he'd made, that he'd never look into his son's eyes and know that he was looking back into his.
"Spock can explain it better than me, but he's doing this because he needs it. It's a natural response for his mind to try and reflect his energy inwards to focus on… healing. I don't know, ask Spock," Jim finished weakly and she nodded.
"Red suits you," he said and she gave a small smile.
"I hate them, they're the ugliest colour and they clash with everything."
Bones chuckled.
"First test of Starfleet darlin', see if you can pass three years in those without losin' your mind."
The three were silent for a few moments before Bones mumbled something and bustled out, appearing in Leo's room moments later, tricoder in hand.
Jim could see his mouth moving as he tried to talk to Emily, and her giving short responses but not once looking up at him.
He sighed and looked at Joanna who was already looking at him carefully.
"How are you?" she asked and he let out a slow breath.
There was a long pause as Jim considered his answer from the many words rushing through his mind that could have described the way he was currently feeling.
Worried sick, anxious, uneasy, distressed, fearful, desperate for him to be okay… just… wake up, Leo. Please.
"So scared," he admitted and she nodded.
"Perfectly natural, but you just said it yourself; he's doing this because he needs it."
"I know. I just… I need him," he said quietly.
Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes and he willed them back.
"I know you do. And I know parents don't have favourites, but I've always noticed the way you look at him. He's really special to you, of course you need him to be okay," she said and he nodded stiffly.
"You ever thought about being a therapist? You've got that calming tone of voice," he said and she smiled sadly.
"I don't know if I have the patience for something like that, we both know I get just like dad when I'm angry," she said and he nodded with a small smile.
"You McCoy's are a fiery bunch," he said and Joanna nodded.
"So… Carol told me dad came over and yelled at Chris, hit him too. You guys cleared that up?" she asked and Jim shrugged.
"I guess. It's Chris he needs to apologise to, not me. I guess I was just worried because the Bones I know would never, ever come to blows with someone. He's always been the kind of guy to think before he acts, and he's acting weird."
Joanna was silent for a moment before offering her answer.
"Now, I didn't tell you this," she said quietly and Jim nodded "But he's the most stressed he's ever been in his life. If something happens to Leo, if… if the worst happens, he's told me that he will never, ever forgive himself for it. As the date for his surgery is getting closer and Leo still isn't following orders and taking it easy, he's getting really on-edge about it. And then everything with David and Chris too? Poor guy is a bit overwhelmed."
Jim nodded, realising all at once that yes, of course Bones was getting overwhelmed. He recalled a time when he had one of the doctor's children's lives in his hands and the immense feeling of responsibility.
"Captain, life support has failed in all common areas of deck eleven Sir, only the crew quarters on that deck are still supplied. I cannae do anythin' until everythin' is under control sir," Scotty's urgent voice rang through the comm. system.
"Understood Mr. Scott. Sulu, get us away from them right now!" Jim ordered, knuckles white as his hands clenched the arms of his Captain's chair.
"Yes sir," Sulu responded quickly.
They'd dropped out of warp and a hostile Klingon ship had lowered it's cloaking device, immediately opening fire.
Jim inhaled sharply as the ship vibrated, the warp drive powering back up.
"Jim! Jim I'm stuck in sickbay, Carol is in our room with Emily and Jo and… I… the baby, Jim, I need to get to her and I can't from here. Comms on that deck are fried. I need to know that she's alright," Bones' voice came through. He sounded like he was in such a state of panic he could barely string a sentence together.
Sickbay was cut off due to an atmosphere breach on deck six.
"Status report! Where are we venting atmosphere and can we seal the bulkheads?" Jim demanded.
"Decks six, seven, eleven and fourteen sir. No major hull damage but enough to cause a breach. We can keep the supply to the rooms on those decks but the hallways are already depressurised," reported an Ensign and Jim nodded.
Carol was painfully close to her due date and had been ordered on maternity leave by Jim, despite her protests. She'd been spending most of her time in bed, thoroughly exhausted.
"Bones, stay where you are, I'm going to try and get to her. Scotty, seal all bulkheads on deck eleven. Spock, she's all yours, keep us as far away from those Klingons as possible," Jim ordered as he sprang up from his chair.
Spock nodded and took the chair from Jim. Jim glanced at Uhura's station, manned by a young Ensign. Uhura was off duty and had Jim and Spock's three children in her quarters with her.
Jim bounded into the turbo-lift, eyes meeting Spock's as the doors closed.
His pocket communicator started to sound and he pulled it out and flipped it open.
"Jim, I can't reach Len… but… the baby. I… he's coming now," Carol sounded just as panicked as the doctor had.
"I'll get a message across. Comms are down on your deck, and the hallways have vented atmosphere. I'm on my way to you now, just keep calm, I promise it'll be alright," he said as calmly as he could.
"What are you-"
"Carol. Just relax, it's under control," he urged and she took a deep shaky breath.
"I'm going to patch your signal through to sickbay, alright? So you can talk to Bones, just stay right there," he ordered as he stepped out of the turbo-lift into a strangely deserted corridor on deck ten.
He ripped the panel off the wall above the video-comm panel there and opened the back of his communicator, working quickly to connect the two devices.
"Scotty when this is all over you make a way to patch our handhelds through to the ship automatically, understand?" Jim demanded as he burnt his fingertips on a frayed wire.
"Aye sir, but you should already be able to do that?"
"Not if the… the receiver for the signal is dead. Sickbay's hasn't worked for a couple of days," Carol said. Jim could practically hear her gritting her teeth.
"Scotty why wasn't this dealt with?" Jim barked as he worked to connect the wire trailing from his handheld device into the wall panel.
"I… Jim with all due respect could you give me my tellin' off later? I'm a wee bit busy down here!"
Jim cut off his signal and jabbed the keys to reach sickbay, Bones' face appearing on the screen in front of him.
"Bones, Carol, can you hear each other?" Jim asked and Bones breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Carol began to talk.
"I'm going to get to you Carol, sit tight," he ordered as he took off sprinting down the corridor. He reached the room he needed and snatched a suit off the wall, quickly shoving it on over his uniform and pulling on the helmet and ensuring correct pressurisation before rushing back to the turo-lift and jabbing the button for deck eleven.
The doors opened into a strange, zero-gravity feeling and Jim quickly pushed himself forwards with a powerful thrust from his legs.
Nothing would be worse than getting stuck in the middle of the space with no way of propelling himself forwards.
He flinched as his shoulder made hard contact with the ceiling and hit the button on the side of his helmet to open his comm. channel.
"Kirk to bridge, Spock, are we clear?"
"Yes Captain it would appear the Klingon vessel did not pursue us. Dropping out of warp at your command sir," he said calmly.
"Take us out of warp at your discretion. Scotty, seal with bulkhead nearest to the turbo-lift on deck eleven, and then seal the one nearest to the breach, and try to pressurise that stretch of hallway for me," he ordered and was met with grumbling from the Scotsman.
"Now Mr Scott!"
"Right y'are, hope you're clear of the doors or I'll be cuttin' ya' clean in half," he said as the door hissed closed behind Jim and again at the very end of the corridor.
Jim used the wall to drag himself forwards until he reached the door to Bones and Carol's quarters.
"Need that air on now Scotty!"
"Workin' on it, give me two bloody seconds!"
"You don't have two seconds, I need it done yesterday!" Jim yelled, his own worry getting the better of him.
Carol needed to be in sickbay to deliver their baby safely. Now.
The gravity and air came back on and Jim grunted as he fell to the floor, landing flat on his stomach.
"I sincerely hope you bashed yerself somewhere painful when you landed ya' wee prick!"
"Yes Scotty, bashed everything, now is the air back on before I take this helmet off?"
"Aye, all good to go Sir," he said and Jim quickly tore the helmet from his head, using his emergency override to gain access to the room in front of him. Joanna was sitting on the couch in the communal area, and Emily was on the floor in her play-pen.
"Carol? Are you-"he froze at what he saw before him as he entered the bedroom. Carol clutching a tiny newborn to her chest, the baby wrapped in a towel.
"I'm fine, and so is he," Carol said quickly and Jim breathed a sigh of relief.
"Get them to me, Jim, please," Bones' voice rang out from Carol's communicator and he nodded.
"Scotty, one more favour," he asked into the helmet's comm.
"Can't get sickbay accessible so fast Jim, you'll have to hang tight where you are for now," he said and Jim nodded.
"How long?"
"I dunno. Hour or two, need to make some repairs down there, I'm on my way," he said and Jim cut off the comm. again.
"How did you…?" he asked and Carol shook her head.
"Adrenaline, I think."
"Jim, is she alright? Actually alright? And the baby too?" Bones demanded and Jim crossed the room to stand at Carol's side and to look at the baby wrapped in the towel.
The child had a full head of dark hair and looked a healthy pink colour, he needed to be cleaned up, but his eyes were open and he seemed perfectly calm and content just staring up at his mother.
"He… Bones he's great, he's beautiful. Carol too. Everything is good," Jim said slowly and the doctor breathed a sigh of relief.
"Give her a hug for me Jim, and stay with her, I'll be there as fast as I can," he said and Carol smiled as Jim wrapped one arm around her, following his best friends orders and giving her a short, reassuring hug.
Joanna talked to Jim for a few minutes longer before slipping from the room and going into the neighbouring one to speak to her sister.
Jim was met by Spock and Seren, who's eyes were puffy as if she'd been crying.
I'm so glad you're here. What took so long?
Jim wrapped his daughter in a hug and held her tightly as he buried her face into his shoulder.
Seren became very distressed. I thought it wise to help her regain control over her emotions before we arrived.
Seren began to tremble in Jim's arms and he stroked her hair gently, Spock taking a few steps towards them and wrapping his arms around them both.
"Hey," Joanna said quietly and Emily glanced up at her before looking back down at Leo.
"So they talked to you about what this is right?"
Emily nodded slowly.
"Coma."
"No. Not a coma. It's similar, but it isn't quite the same. He's meditating really hard to try and make himself better," Joanna said, dragging another chair over to sit beside her sister.
"Well nothing can wake him up, so it's as good as a coma," she said bluntly and Joanna took a few seconds to consider her next question.
"I know you must be really scared right now, but Spock said that he'll be able to sense that if you touch him, you need to just send him all good stuff, okay?" she said softly and Emily nodded, her eyes squeezing closed and a few tears escaping from them.
"Hey, don't cry," Joanna soothed, wrapping one arm around her half-sister.
"I… I'm so confused right now, I wish we could talk about it all," she whimpered.
"What are you confused about darlin'?"
"Last night," she mumbled and Joanna stayed silent, waiting to see if Emily would offer her any more information.
"We uh… well…"
Joanna looked at her sister carefully.
"You had sex with him?"
"Maybe a little bit," she confessed and Joana gave her a reassuring squeeze.
"Hey, that's okay, he's a nice boy and you're both old enough to be able to decide you want to do that."
"I just feel so… weird. I've never, y'know," Emily shifted uncomfortably and Joanna felt a rush of sympathy for her.
"Oh. I never realised that you hadn't. I'm so sorry. I guess you guys were going to have that awkward conversation this morning huh?" she said and Emily nodded and sniffled.
"That's okay, I'm sure you can still have it when he wakes up. How are you feeling?" Jo asked and Emily shrugged.
"I just want to go back and not do it," she whispered, a few tears escaping from her eyes and leaving two clear trails down her face.
"Oh no, why?" Joanna asked quietly and Emily shook her head, wiping her face with her hands.
"Because I caused this. If we hadn't have… he was in my head, and Spock said that he's in this state because of his mind being weak and I… it was my fault, he was trying to… to explain how he felt and I should have stopped him."
"He mind-melded with you?"
"Yeah. It was… nice," she said and Joanna nodded.
"It's definitely always an interesting experience."
They both fell silent until Joanna spoke again.
"But it was ok? Between you two? How'd it happen?" she asked and Emily smiled weakly.
"I found out about him being ill from David and Chris and ran over there. He opened the door and I slapped him right in the face for not telling me," Joanna smiled. Jim was right. The McCoy's were certainly fiery when annoyed. "But then he was telling me he's in love with me and we were kissing and we went upstairs and… I don't know. It felt right. It felt natural. It just kind of… started happening," she trailed off and Joanna nodded.
"He didn't pressure you did he?" Joanna asked. She felt a duty of care to her younger sister, and as much as she knew Leo would be unlikely to do something like that, felt she wanted to check.
"No. Not at all, he kept saying we should stop, he was so sweet and gentle and nice and I just… god I wanted to talk to him about it all, so bad," Emily sighed and Joanna looked carefully at the young man before them. His chest slowly rising and falling, face entirely relaxed but a sickly green pallor to his skin.
"He'll come out of it when he's ready, and I'm sure he'll be waiting to have the same talk," Joanna said in what she hoped was an encouraging tone of voice. Emily whimpered and started to cry again, burying her face in her sister's shoulder.
"Honey, don't cry, he wouldn't want you to be crying because of him. I can just imagine his stupid little goofy grin telling you not to cry," she said and Emily chuckled sadly.
"I love that stupid smile."
"Yeah? We all do. Now come on, we're gonna go and get some crappy fast food and talk about all of it, okay?"
Emily nodded and allowed Joanna to pry her away from the bedside. Jim watched through the glass, relieved Emily had finally left. Looking at her watching Leo was breaking his heart.
"Jim?"
Spock's voice brought him back to his senses.
"Oh. Yeah, sorry, huh?" he asked dumbly and Spock took a patient deep breath.
"Seren and I believe it would be wise to try and locate Christopher as he has not been answering his communicator and-"
The door opened abruptly and Christopher sauntered into the room, David close behind him. Saying that Chris looked awful would have been an understatement. He had dark circles under his eyes that made him look much older than his years, and his expression was strained.
"Hey, how are you holding up?" Jim asked and Christopher gave him a filthy look.
"Yeah. I'm pretty fucking great, I'm just fine and dandy! Just know that I can't trust any of you ever again," he said in a low voice.
"Chris, come on," David warned and Chris tensed.
"No. You know what? Fuck you all. I don't even want to be here, I don't want to see… him, or any of you. How could you not tell me?!" he exploded and Jim closed his eyes for a moment and opened his mouth to answer. Before he could begin he was interrupted.
"Christopher, we agreed that we would withhold this information from you as it was in accordance with Leo's wishes. We also agreed that we felt it was not the correct thing for him to do, but we would wait for him to determine the point at which he wanted to tell you for himself. There was concern about how you would react to the information and I believe your brother only withheld it as he believed it was in your best interests," Spock explained calmly.
Jim nodded.
"Everything he said. We're sorry, and we love you, but right now we need to stick together for him, we can't fight each other when he needs us all to be there for him."
David gave Chris a stern look and he relented, nodding obediently.
"I'm gonna go sit with him for a bit," Chris said quietly, leaving the room and appearing moment's later at Leo's bedside, sitting in Emily's recently vacated chair.
Jim had watched the exchange between David and Christopher with interest. The youngest McCoy seemed to have a control over Christopher that he had never before seen. Chris seemed to follow every order, listen to every word.
"I better uh… I need to find my dad, talk to him about something," David said, excusing himself from the room and heading down the corridor with a final glance back at Jim, Spock and Seren all standing together.
He walked quickly down the corridor, sneakers squeaking on the shiny floor until he reached the door of his father's office and knocked.
"Come in!"
"Oh hi, how's it-"
"Fine, it's going fine," David cut him off abruptly, beginning to pace the room aggressively. Bones watched him for several lengths of the room before speaking up.
"Wanna wear a hole in my floor or tell me what the matter is?"
David stopped pacing and ran both hands through his hair.
"How did you know you were in love with Mom?" he asked and Bones quirked an eyebrow.
"Hmm. Tough question. I don't know, it's a difficult thing to describe. Why'dyou ask? You changing your tune on Kirk?"
David blushed a little bit before he could stop himself, his stomach .
"Maybe. I feel weird."
"I heard you guys talking in your room earlier, he stayed over last night?"
David blushed brighter pink.
"He did, but nothing happened."
"Uh huh. So you guys shared your tiny little bed, and you didn't touch eachother once?"
"Well, we… cuddled… a bit, but only because he was upset," David said awkwardly and Bones snorted with laughter.
"Cuddling? Oh jeez kid, why are you askin' me if you're in love? You're in there… cuddling… spooning probably and-"
"Hey, we're both tall guys ok, and that bed is not meant for two people and he was upset and-" David interrupted, only to be interrupted again his father.
"Just. For now keep it to yourself. You don't wanna hurt the poor kid by letting him think your feelings have changed. Just be there for him, because he's sure as hell having a seriously tough time right now. We'll get Leo up and running again and help them patch things up and see how things are progressing then?"
David nodded. He trusted his father's advice to be good.
"Is Leo gonna be okay?" he asked, doing his best to keep all of their conversation away from the part of his mind where he could feel his bond with Christopher faintly in the background.
"His chances of a full recovery with zero lasting effects aren't amazing, but he should live," he said bluntly.
"What kind of lasting effects?" David asked, sinking into the chair opposite his father.
"All kinds of things really. Chemo could affect his ability to have kids if he needs another round of it, and the risks with the surgery are pretty substantial. Could lose memories, ability to walk or talk. Any kind of brain surgery is highly complicated and risky."
"But it'll be you that does it, right?"
"Uh huh, course it will. You really think I'd let any other doctor get near that kid?"
"No. I mean I just… I don't know. You've been acting weird because of being worried about him, and I didn't know if that meant you wouldn't do it."
Bones shook his head.
"No. I wouldn't trust anyone else with it, and I know Jim and Spock wouldn't either. Just look after Chris though, okay? Jim's worried about him, I can see that. Kid seems kind of unstable."
"He's a little unstable, but I don't think he'd ever do anything too crazy. I mean… do you?"
The doctor was silent for a moment.
"I don't know. I mean he's just had a huge shock, and a bad one at that, so keep an eye on him?"
David nodded and stood up to leave, intending to go and do just that.
A/N
Yo! How's it hanging everyone? Acceptably I hope! My laptop is a being a little skanky bitch and is broken even though I did nothing to hurt it, and keeps deleting my chapters when I'm almost done with them, so please see above for version 4 (that's right, I had to write it FOUR times, admittedly, the first twice it deleted was only the very first bit, but STILL. Gah.) So I'm going to try and get that seen to this week, because it's just really not cool.
Thanks everyone for all the reviews. I hope I addressed people's issues with OOC Bones at least a little bit in this chapter. I meant to have set it up a little more so people could see how stressed he was before he had his tantrum but basically he feels wholly responsible for Leo's life and it's stressing him out, rightfully so.
Anywho. David isn't a complete asshole, I swear, he was a little better this time right?
I'm really curious to see how you guys think the story is going to end. Anyone want to share their theories?
Much love to you guys! I'll do my best to get the next chapter out ASAP!
