A/N
Guess who's back? Back again? Not shady. Me. Haha, I'm hilarious.
Sorry this has taken so long. My stupid medical condition cost me my job, partner, and home, so i've been dealing with all of those delights. BUT - my personal crap aside, I'm so happy to get this chapter out because it's the start of the end, the pace is really going to pick up now and we're heading towards the ending. Apologies if the writing seems a little... poor in places. I've done my best. As ever, your reviews mean the world to me, so if you have a second to spare, please leave me one.
Also, maybe read back a chapter or two because it's all been so long now. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
*~*~*~*~*Happy Reading*~*~*~*
Chapter Thirty
"How is he?" Carol asked worriedly the second Leonard got through the door.
"David or Leo?" he asked and she continued to advance on him.
"Both of them."
"David is fine… bruised sure and a minor concussion, but he's fine, I checked him over five times because I just couldn't compute that he could be ok after that… Chris took him back to his place, he got pretty upset so I think they need some time to just… get their heads around today," he said flatly and she nodded, pressing silently for further answers.
"Leo is alive. He's… well. He's in bad shape, but he'll be ok. His blood is keeping him alive, without it he definitely wouldn't still be here," he said glumly and she looked confused.
He closed his eyes and forced himself to say it.
"We found a mass in his abdomen."
She took a breath and held it for a few seconds before she asked her next question.
"And when are you going to remove it?" she asked and he gave her a weak smile. She knew him so well, knew that he'd help Leo immediately.
"Need to talk to him first… and right now he's not talking to anybody. Going to be sedated the next forty-eight hours at least while we watch him. I should-"he trailed off and made a vague hand gesture that he hoped she would interpret as 'I need to sleep because I've been awake for over thirty hours and if I don't sleep I may pass out in the hallway'.
He grimaced as he noticed he had splotches of green blood on his uniform.
"Get out of this, come on," she ordered, tugging at the bottom of the stained shirt.
He was too weak and tired to argue. He shucked his clothes and allowed Carol to take them away before she was pushing him towards the bathroom, fetching him a clean towel and beginning to fill the tub with hot water.
The hot bath felt like heaven, and he could feel himself drifting off to sleep until a gentle hand took his and he blinked back to reality.
"Hm?"
"I didn't say anything," Carol smiled. "But I did have this for you," she offered a glass tumbler to him, it contained two fingers of golden-brown liquid on ice.
He accepted gratefully, kissing her hand before she could take it away.
"You should join me. Room for two in here," he offered and she gave a weak smile.
"I should try and talk to David, make sure he's ok. If I can't get hold of him I'll be right back though?" she said and he nodded, sipping him his drink and savouring the warmth as it ran slowly down his throat.
He'd been thinking about calling David himself, knowing he was badly shaken up. He was sure Chris could handle it, but sometimes he forgot how young his son still was and that he'd probably benefit from parental support right now. He was just worried his protectiveness would come across too strongly and the last thing he wanted to do was freak his son out any more after his traumatic brush with death.
Carol returning a few minutes later answered his wonderings.
"Chris picked up his comm… he said David was asleep, that he'd been pretty upset and then passed out. He's going to leave him a while and then wake him up and make sure that he's feeling ok. Anything off and he'll let one of us know," she said and Bones nodded tiredly.
"Still room for one more in there?" she asked and he smiled faintly.
"Always for you darlin'."
She stripped of her clothing and carefully lowered into the bath, settling sat between his legs and reclining back against his chest, his arms around her holding her tight.
"Today was deliberate. Scotty commed me while you were still at the hospital when I was at work. He took a look at David's parachute pack; said it looked like someone cut it on purpose when it was being packed. It was damaged enough that when he pulled it, it just failed immediately," she said and he let out a low affirmative sound.
"It was Mitchell," he said bluntly and she tensed.
"You think?"
"I pretty much know it."
She was silent for a while before she spoke up again, and what she said wasn't what he expected.
"How can we prove it?"
He thought for a moment.
"Don't know if we can. We'll just have to wait for Scotty to publish an engineering report saying that the chute was tampered with and then see if we can find a way to link Mitchell to it. It's unlikely though. Bastards good at covering his tracks," he muttered, reaching for his drink and taking another sip.
"I'm good at digging. I'll see what I can find," she said determinedly and he smiled, kissing the side of her head.
He knew that their son's life being threatened had shaken her almost as much as it had shaken him, but he also knew she wasn't going to show that worry easily, just as he wasn't.
"David can take care of himself, you know that right?" he said and she let her head fall back onto his shoulder.
"I know. And I know Chris will look out for him too, but I can't help being worried."
~*~*~*~*PAGE BREAK*~*~*~*~*
Chris was a mess.
His emotions were spiralling wildly, and as much as he tried, he just couldn't seem to reign them in.
David had almost died, and now Leo's life was in danger again. He couldn't lose either of them.
David was asleep on the couch, his head resting on Chris' thigh, still in his dirty uniform from today though Chris had at least convinced him to take his still-damp boots off.
As he slept his bondmate ran a hand through his hair, trying not to think about what would have happened if today had gone differently.
I love you so much. Can't ever lose you.
David stirred a little and stretched, letting out a low groan as he woke.
"How long was I out?" he asked groggily and Chris glanced at the time.
"Not long. Less than an hour," he answered flatly.
David stretched a little more and then sat up.
"I should take a shower," he pointed out and Chris shrugged.
"You only kind of stink."
David shoved him playfully.
"Asshole."
He stood up and walked to the bathroom and Chris heard the water start running, David then peeked around the doorway.
"You coming with?" He looked hopeful, still maybe a little scared from earlier and Chris nodded.
He stood up to follow and his communicator chirped. He fumbled for it in his pocket, so tired his fingers were shaking a little. He had a message from Emily.
He was awake for a little bit. Gave me a thumbs up and then passed back out. I'll sit with him tonight. I hope you and David are ok x
He closed his eyes momentarily. Nobody else knew what Bones had told him in his office, and he knew that if Emily did she'd be worried sick, even more worried than she already was.
Sometimes Chris wondered why she put up with Leo's behaviour. He'd been acting strange the last six months in particular, and treated her far from the way Chris imaged he would. He'd disappear for days at a time, buried in some project at the Academy and only sleeping one night a week as he was taking so many classes. They barely even saw each other and when they did it seemed to end in arguments more often than not.
Deciding he'd been standing still entirely too long, he put the communicator down on the table and headed for the bathroom.
David had his back to him as he entered the room and he removed his clothes, opening the shower door to get in and startling him into turning around.
"Shh, come here," he said softly. David was crying uncontrollably again.
He joined him under the spray and held him tightly as he sobbed.
It's OK. You're safe.
He reassured him as much as he could through their bond, trying to only let positive emotions pass through.
"Thought I was never going to see you again," David mumbled, burying his face into Chris' shoulder.
"You think I'd let you get away so easily?" he asked lightly and David looked up, steely blue eyes bloodshot from being upset.
"If I'd been there I'd have jumped after you," he said and David chuckled.
"Your parachute probably would have been cut too. This is getting really out of control… Don't know if I want to do it anymore," he trailed off, barely above a whisper.
"The Academy?"
David nodded.
Chris pulled him closer, wrapping his arms around him tightly as he fought back his own tears, the weight of the days events becoming too much.
Don't give up now. It's not even a month until you graduate.
David held him desperately, as though he was the only thing keeping him alive, the only thing keeping him rooted in reality.
But when I do graduate… he'll still be able to get me. Or get you. I don't want anything to happen.
Chris gently pried David off him and far enough back that he could look into his eyes.
"I promise you, I won't let anybody hurt you, ok?"
David nodded, sniffling and looking down.
"Hey, look at me?" Chris offered gently, tears in his own eyes now.
"I love you. I'm not going to let anybody hurt you, and if that means I throw Mitchell out of an airlock myself, so be it," he said and David smiled faintly.
"I mean it, ok? I love you. Really I-" Chris was cut off as David covered his lips with his own, kissing him tenderly.
Chris could feel nervousness through the bond and it made him curious, what did David have to feel nervous about? This wasn't about Mitchell – it was new, a feeling that had appeared after Chris had reassured him.
"You ok?" Chris mumbled between kisses and David pulled back, he seemed unsure of himself and backed away a little further under the hot spray of the shower, Chris followed.
"I… I don't know. I have to tell you something," he said hesitantly.
Chris didn't say anything, just waited for David to speak up.
"I… these past few months being away from you in London… I've been pretty miserable," he began and Chris nodded, taking his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"But I've been doing a lot of thinking and I… well… I want to quit the academy so I can… so we can…" he trailed off and looked down, not wanted to meet Chris' eye.
He already knew the answer. As soon as he'd started talking Chris knew where it was going.
"You want us to have a baby," he finished and David looked up, looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
"I'm not mad. We can talk about it," Chris encouraged and David seemed to relax a little.
"I… yeah. I think about it a lot. I'll do it. I mean… the carrying part. I just… especially with today. Life is short, you know?" he said and Chris smirked.
"Today has really rattled you."
"It has but I was thinking about it before. I mean don't you ever think about it?" he asked and Chris thought for a second.
He'd thought about it of course, but more as something in the distant future, not something to do before they'd even finished the Academy. He could picture them with a family, maybe two or three kids. Both of them ridiculously happy.
"I have thought about it. I really like the idea, especially of me not having to do any of the hard work," he grinned and David shoved him playfully. "I just think we should talk about it properly when you didn't almost just fall to your messy death," he pointed out and David nodded.
"Ok. Yeah. I can do that. Sorry, I'm freaking out. And I'm freaking out about Leo," he admitted and Chris sighed.
"I'm freaking out about him too… but hey, if we're going to talk about my brother, not in the shower huh?"
David nodded and they got out of the shower, both drying off before curling into bed together.
"Why babies all of a sudden?" Chris asked and David glanced up from where he had his head resting on his bondmates shoulder.
"I don't know. Honestly, I don't know. I think knowing that Seren is getting a good success rate and that it's possible is something to do with it. But I think the other part of it is wanting to… I don't know. I don't know how to put it," David trailed off awkwardly and Chris kissed the top of his head.
"Get some sleep," he ordered as David yawned.
It didn't take him long before he was out for the count, snoring slightly from the awkward angle of his head on Chris' shoulder, arms wrapped around him tightly.
Chris sighed. He needed to pee, but there was no way he'd be able to get up now without waking David, unless of course he was very sneaky about it.
He gently placed his fingers at his psi points and used the deeper connection to help keep him from waking as he carefully freed himself from the bed and crept to the bathroom.
Afterwards he flung himself down on the couch, picking up his communicator so he could give Seren a call to discuss Leo's condition and what might be his next move if the mysterious mass in his abdomen turned out to not be friendly.
*~*~*~*PAGE BREAK*~*~*~*
When he met his son the following morning, Leonard noted he looked exhausted, but less shaken than the previous day.
"C'mere kid," he said, grabbing him and hugging him tightly. David didn't even try to fight him off as he normally would, but hugged him back briefly before stepping backwards. He had some bruising coming up on his neck and one side of his face but he shrugged it off as nothing when he tried to ask about it.
"Where we meeting him?" David asked as Leonard looked around the busy street. Scotty had asked to meet them here rather than in engineering and it had all seemed a bit strange.
"Uh… here, I think," he said uncertainly.
They waited a few more minutes before David spoke up again.
"Leo doing ok?"
Leonard sighed.
"I haven't actually seen him today – but I've not had any news to suggest he isn't doing ok," he said distantly. He was really worried for the kid and didn't want to show it, unfortunately his son knew how to read him too well.
"I'm worried too. Feeling pretty guilty about the whole reason he's in the hospital being my fault," he said, scratching the back of his head and looking at the ground.
"He needed to be there anyway. Damn idiot should have kept up with his check-ups like I told him-"
He stopped speaking as his communicator sounded and he pulled it from his pocket.
"Huh, that's weird," he said, looking at the screen. The incoming caller was withholding their frequency information.
"Hello?" he asked cautiously, flipping the device open.
"Look across the street, the Irish Pub, come inside and we're sitting at the very back," a voice he recognised as Molly Scott told him before the transmission cut off.
"Apparently we're doing a covert meeting today," he shrugged as he and David crossed the street before heading into the bar.
He didn't miss the way David practically flinched as they walked in. He'd quit his bartending job that he'd been using to make some extra money as he knew it bothered Chris that he spent all night around booze. As far as he understood it, Chris had never directly asked him to stop drinking or to stop the job, but David had done it as he knew it was better for them both.
The Irish Pub was almost completely empty as it was the morning, the jukebox singing out a lonely old song to the few occupants sitting at the bar or at one of the tables.
"Go find them. I need a drink," David muttered and his father nodded, heading off towards the back as Molly had said as David diverted course and went up to the bar.
He ordered a double shot of Jack and a Budweiser classic. Obviously assuming the drinks were for two people the bartender offered to bring them to the table and David had shaken his head.
"To be honest man, I don't think they're even going to make it as far as the table," he admitted as he threw back the shot, setting the empty glass down on the bar and picking up the beer, taking a swig to chase the burn of the Jack away.
He paid up and wandered over towards the back to find the table to notice three people sitting talking quietly, a fourth chair vacant for himself.
He met Scotty's eye and nodded in acknowledgment, walking over and sliding into the seat, taking another gulp from his bottle and ignoring the sideways glance from his father.
"So… as I was jus' sayin'… the pack was most certainly tampered with. In my inspection I found somethin' interesting… because you see those cables cannae break very easily," he picked up his PADD from the table and handed it to David who looked at it before frowning.
"So… we're talking a really unusual blade cut the cables?" he said and Scotty nodded.
On the PADD was a short list of items sharp enough to partially cut through the reinforced cables used for the parachutes.
"All items that a Starfleet Admiral would have easy access to in one of the many rooms full of this sort of stuff…" Leonard muttered before trailing off.
"It isn't just that," Molly interrupted.
"I was doing some uh… homework… and I heard something I shouldn't have heard. The voices had been disguised but I was able to partially recover them – it's a transmission from Mitchell's office itself. This was… encoded and like I said, the voices were disguised, so whoever this is really didn't want to be overheard," she said shakily. She looked almost like she didn't want to hand over the PADD with the audio clip but her father gave her a sideways look and an encouraging nod and she placed it in David's outstretched hand.
"I take it this is something bad?" he asked and Scotty nodded, glancing around.
"Yer not gonna like it," he said and David sipped his beer again before hitting the play button.
"-not going to go away on it's own."
"Well that's what I'm asking, I'm asking you to make this problem go away. I can't have them running around causing trouble. Who knows when one of them might flip and smash up half a city or something? Commandeer a starship and crash it into the planet? They are dangerous and unstable. Particularly the older one."
There was a pause and David looked up but Scotty wouldn't meet his eye.
"Just wait a second, it kind of goes a bit weird then carries on," Molly mumbled quietly.
"He has great potential. But he is not one of us. He's not a human or a Vulcan or an augment. He's something in between. They all are. They could be valuable – we don't even know the extent of their abilities-"
"Their ability to be a major problem for this city and this planet is my only concern right now. You said none of them accepted more inhibitor?"
"To my knowledge. Maybe the girl but certainly neither of the boys."
"She's causing me a whole different headache right now. Listen. We need to make this issue go away. One of them trusts me, the other doesn't. The one that doesn't – I need you to make him go away."
David did his best not to react to that statement. Next to him his father was tense and anger was positively radiating off him, but he too was doing his best to contain his reaction.
"That is not an easy task. You should consider playing the cards you have on the table, maybe the problem will sort itself out."
"I see. He's still unstable enough?"
"He goes to his pathetic little pity circle once a week at least, sometimes twice or more. The boyfriend is keeping him together from what I can tell. They think they're being clever about it, but you haven't kept them apart – they see each other regularly. They seem to be using some sort of unauthorised transporter device, bouncing all over the planet."
"What if I made the thing keeping him together go away. Think then maybe the problem would work itself out? The transporter will be the other one. I'll get on that too."
"It's likely."
"Good. Well that's much easier. I'll have that taken care of as soon as possible, then maybe this mess will clean itself up quietly."
The recording stopped abruptly and David blinked.
It took a few seconds to sink in that he'd just listened to what was clearly Admiral Mitchell saying that he was going to try to kill him, in the hope that it would lead to Chris killing himself.
"That fucking-"
"Len. Shh. I know, ok, I know it's terrible. But we have to be smart with this information," Scotty interrupted as the doctor began to rage.
"What would Jim do in this situation?" he asked and Leonard seemed to slump, the rage seeming to falter momentarily at the mention of their late Captain.
"I… I don't know," he muttered and David felt himself beginning to vent his anger before he could stop it.
"We need to… warn Chris and Leo, that someone is obviously out to do them harm. I need to lay low for a while, so I don't become a part of this again, and this tape needs to be leaked to the media, we need to tell everyone that-"
"The media can be bought, kid, and it looks like they already have been. You read the news this mornin'?" he asked and David shook his head.
Molly fidgeted with her PADD momentarily before handing it back across. David felt sick and Leonard cursed loudly, the side of his fist colliding with the table.
The front page of the trashiest gossip rag in the galaxy had Chris' picture plastered over it – even worse was the context. The image was a still taken from a video, by the looks of it a video of Chris fucking some girl.
David averted his eyes quickly and did his best to keep this away from the part of his mind where he could feel their bond.
"There's no way that it's a coincidence that this tape has appeared today," Molly said flatly as she took the PADD back and made the image go away.
"I… I…" David started but he just couldn't get any words out. In the image it wasn't entirely clear, but the scarring on Chris' chest was visible, meaning this had happened after they had bonded.
"They're trying to kick Chris while he's down. This shit have a source?" Leonard spat and Molly shook her head.
"No idea. I can't get any info on who the girl is either, her identity has been changed. She's done some… some stupid interview about it too, but her name has been changed. It'll take some time to try and dig her up," she said and he nodded.
"I'm sure it aint what it looks like," Scotty tried to assure but David shook his head, forcing as much rage through the bond as he could muster.
After a few seconds he felt a surge of curiosity coming back and he focused really hard on sending across a clearer message.
This morning's magazines.
"So their target is all three of them? He said he's got a different problem with Seren, I mean I imagine that's obviously going to be her work. But we need to make sure the twins are-"
He was interrupted as David's communicator started to ring. He took it out of his pocket and set it on the table without looking at it. He knew already it was Chris.
Nobody moved until it stopped ringing.
"As I was saying, we need to make sure that Chris and Leo-"
The communicator started ringing again and David snatched it up, opening it and bringing it to his ear.
"What?" he growled and was met with silence for a few seconds before Chris spoke.
"We need to talk about this. I know that you're angry… and you have every right not to believe me, but I'm telling you right now that video is fake. Just trust me, I can prove it. It's from before I got hurt, they've tampered with-"
David snapped his communicator shut and flung it down on the table, hands visibly shaking now as he fought to keep his composure. Tears were burning at his eyes.
How could Chris do this to him? Cheat on him after everything?
Nobody said anything for a moment until Molly's communicator started to ring. She slowly picked it up and opened it, David glaring at her across the table.
"Molly, don't hang up on me! Don't let David hang up on me either. Just listen to me, ok? I can tell you exactly when that video was from – it was two weeks before my Pon Farr happened. I didn't and would never cheat on David," he paused for a moment, trailing off before quietly adding "He means everything to me, I'd never do something like that. Tell him to call me when he's ready, or I'm at the hospital with Leo."
The call cut off as David snatched up the communicator and slammed it down on the table so hard it snapped clean in half.
"If he says it's fake, then it's a fake, we'll get it proven. We need to get you somewhere safe," Scotty ordered, a rare assertiveness in his voice. David glanced to his father who nodded.
"I'm sure he wouldn't… I'm sure what he says is true," he forced out, voice shaking.
"Where can I go?" David asked and Scotty immediately answered.
"I know a place. Let's all leave here right now… separately and quietly. Doctor, you go to the hospital, Molly, darl, go back to engineerin' and hold fort for me, lad go get anythin' you're gonna need, and if you wanna talk to Kirk in person arrange it, because once we make you disappear he can't come to you until this all blows over," he said quickly and David nodded.
"Tell Mom… that I'm ok," he said to his father quickly as he rose from the table, nodding to Molly and turning back to Scotty for more instructions.
"Uh… get your things and come by my office in two hours?"
"Two hours. Got it," he said, turning and leaving without even another glance backwards, fists still shaking with anger.
*~*~*~*~*PAGE BREAK*~*~*~*~*
"It'll be ok, just take a deep breath, talk whenever you're ready," she said in a soothing, level tone.
Chris took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, shuddering a little as he did so.
"You know… about what's happened right?" he asked in a hollow voice and she nodded.
"Yeah, I've seen it," Joanna said, leaning back a little more in her chair.
Leo was still heavily sedated laying sprawled in the bed and Chris had been pacing the room desperately racking his brain when Joanna had shown up to try and help him any way she could.
"I… the girl. I remember her… vaguely. Her name was Alice? Alicia? Alexa… I don't know. Something starting with an 'A'… anyway… we met at a bar, she had these legs and… sorry… we got talking… went back to her place…" he trailed off and she looked at him strangely.
"Nothing you tell me leaves this room, or is going to shock me or disgust me or… anything. I didn't come here to judge you, I just want to help you," she said in the same level tone and he nodded, clenching and unclenching his hands a few times.
"We did a few lines of coke… a few… other things… I was really, really wasted. This is from way back when I was just partying it up all the time. Anyway, one thing led to another and we ended up in bed. But for me at that time it was nothing unusual, just a normal night. I didn't stick around either. Couple of hours after I got to her place I was back home again, we never spoke again," he said and she nodded.
"Ok. So... this was a one-time deal?"
He nodded. "But this is what I was like back then… this was a normal night for me."
She was quiet for a few moments and was careful with her next question.
"So, why do you have your scars in the footage?" she asked and he flushed a little bit.
"You watched it?" he asked and she shrugged.
"I saw the still that's going around on the magazine covers, the one with the blanked out rude parts. I didn't look at your junk, if that's what you're asking. I have absolutely no interest in seeing you naked," she said and he smirked a little, running a hand through his hair.
"It must have been edited. I swear on my life I have never and would never cheat on David. You know? I swear on Jim's grave," he said firmly and she nodded.
"I believe you. No way you'd say that if you weren't telling the truth," she said and he nodded.
"I… he's so mad… he's going to let that blind him, he's not going to listen when I try to tell him-"
"Tell me what?" David's voice asked from the doorway and Chris span around to face him so quickly Joanna thought he may actually fall over.
"Tell you that this is all a fake. I don't know who's doing this or what they want, but I'm telling you it's all lies. I did not sleep with that girl after we were bonded. It was before and the footage has been tampered with, you need to trust me," he said in the same confident tone he'd been using whilst speaking to Joanna.
David looked at him for a few seconds before averting his eyes to the floor.
"I do. And I think I know who's doing this and I know why. I have to tell you that a threat has been made against your life, Leo and Seren too. And me. So I have to go into hiding and-"
"Hiding? Fuck hiding. You stay with me where I can protect you!"
David paused for a moment before answering, now looking unsure of himself.
"You think it'd be better if we all stick together?"
"Yes. Seren too, and probably Spock. We need to all stay together right now," Chris said firmly and David hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"You're right. I was being stupid. I- Chris they want… I don't know what to do," he said quietly and Joanna spoke up.
"What was this threat?" she asked and David started to pace the room just as Chris had been doing a few moments earlier.
"It was Mitchell talking to someone on a comm. call. It was really weird though, they were talking about you guys not being humans or vulcans or augments… and the guy he was talking to said something like 'they aren't us'… something like that. But the way he said it was almost like he was an augment himself," David trailed off and Chris sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"You remember a couple of years ago… that weird guy had been following me and then he bundled me into a van and took me to some office somewhere to talk to me about some shit to do with the Borg and protecting the planet? That guy was an augment, for sure," he said and Joanna frowned.
"I thought there weren't any that aren't in chryo-sleep?"
"There's this one guy. I'm sure he's one of them. Being around him I just felt… weird. His eyes, his… manner, the way he held himself, the way he spoke. That guy wasn't a human, I'm certain of that much," Chris said firmly and the three of them fell silent for a few moments, Chris now looking at his brother's unconscious form.
"We should get him moved. We should all go together to lay low somewhere… I agree that it's the best thing to do, but I think it should be all of us," Chris said and David nodded, exhaling slowly.
"You guys need to work this out," Joanna pointed out, hinting at the obvious tension in the room.
"I can prove it right now," Chris said, pulling the up the image on his PADD and looking uncertain for a moment before taking off his jacket and then shirt.
"Here," He pointed out, zooming in on the grainy image to the area of the scarring on his chest and holding it next to the same area of his body.
"It looks nothing alike," David breathed as he looked at the completely inaccurate scarring on Chris' chest in the image – the shape of the marking was wrong, as was the position.
"This part right here that's so distinctive, nobody knows about this. That photoshoot I did, I requested it be covered, I didn't want this getting out," he pointed out the faint Starfleet emblem branded on his chest where his badge had been melted into his skin. The small triangle was missing from the image on the PADD.
"You believe me now, right? You know this is just… lies. They're trying to hit us again while we're trying to pick ourselves back up, to try and-"
"Chrisfer," a voice slurred from the bed and the three of them fell silent, turning to face Leo who was blinking blearily at them.
"Hey buddy," Chris said softly, pulling his shirt back on and striding over to his brother's bedside, hand settling on his shoulder immediately as Leo blinked sleepily up at him.
"Where… I?" he forced out, one of the alarms on his bed now beginning to ping softly.
"You're in the hospital, in San Fran. You're going to be ok, just relax," Chris said quietly.
Go find a Doctor. He shouldn't be able to be awake with the sedatives he's on right now.
David nodded and followed the request, Joanna following him from the room as they went to fetch a Doctor.
"I don' feel s'good," he forced out, closing his eyes and grimacing.
"I'm not surprised," Chris replied with a weak chuckle.
"Ismily ere?" he slurred. His twin interpreted the sentence before answering.
"She went home to shower and get some fresh clothes. She sat here with you all night though, she's coming back soon," he assured.
"Needt ask… her. A question," he forced out, swallowing hard, his hands clenching into fists in the sheets at his sides.
"Hey, just relax, plenty of time to ask her questions later. Do you remember what happened?" he asked and Leo blinked slowly, eyes not really focusing as he looked back up at his brother.
"Some... I fell."
"You did fall. You fell pretty far. You saved David's life, you remember that part?"
Leo's eyes filled with tears and he nodded, swallowing hard again.
"He was s-so scared," he whispered and Chris tightened his grip on Leo's shoulder, other hand snatching up a tissue from the bedside table and dabbing at his brother's face with it as a single tear escaped each eye and started to roll down his face.
"That's ok. He's ok Leo. You saved him, he's fine. He's just gone to go find a doctor and he'll be back any minute."
Leo reached up, wincing in pain as he flailed for his brother's hand. Chris caught it and held on, Leo's fingers closing in a weak grip around his as his eyes slipped closed again.
"Where does it hurt? Mind if I check?" Chris asked and Leo shook his head slightly, Chris leaning across and placing the fingertips of his free hand at Leo's meld points, wincing as he glimpsed his twin's pain. The pain was almost everywhere, but by far the most painful was his abdomen.
Chris backed off and Leo whined in pain, curling in on himself a little in the bed.
"Try and stay still ok? Don't want you to hurt your back or-"
"Can't. Chris. Help- fuck-" Leo hissed, both arms now wrapped tightly around his abdomen as he rolled onto his side and curled into the foetal position on the bed, pulling at his IV line and setting off another alarm.
David, hurry up and find someone, something is really wrong with him here.
Chris located the emergency call button on the bed and pressed it until it lit up, keeping on hand on Leo's shoulder as he curled into a tighter ball, face tight with pain and eyes screwed shut.
The door slid open and Seren strode in, crossing the room immediately and looking the monitors over, blue eyes wide with worry. David and Joanna had followed her in and stayed back.
"Page Doctor McCoy please, we need to get him into surgery right now and I can't operate on him as it's a conflict of interest," Seren ordered, throwing a handheld device at Chris who reacted barely fast enough to catch it. He quickly selected Bones' name from a short list and hit the button to summon him to the hospital for an emergency.
Another two doctors entered the room, no doubt due to the emergency call Chris had pressed.
Leo whimpered pathetically, tightening his grip around his abdomen to a point that Chris was worried he'd do himself harm if he kept going with it.
"What's happening to him?" Chris demanded as Seren ran a tricorder over his abdominal area, her face paling as she did so.
"Whatever the mass is, in his abdomen – it's ruptured. We need to get him to an O.R. right now. Leo – listen to me carefully – you need to stop fighting your sedatives or we're going to have to operate on you while you're awake. We cannot give you any more drugs to make you sleep, you understand?" she asked clearly and he grunted a response. His heart rate on the monitor was becoming faster and more uneven.
"Damn it. Leo. You have to focus ok? You need to go to sleep," she said firmly.
"Why can't he have more sedative?" Chris asked and she shook her head.
"Because with everything he's hooked up to right now, he should be in a coma. We can't give him anything else without risking stopping his heart," she said as she tried to pry Leo's arms away from his abdomen with the help of the two other doctors. Chris helped too and was able to hold one arm down. The other arm flailed wildly and caught one of the other doctors in the head, sending him stumbling backwards and slumping to the ground.
David leapt forwards and took his place, trying to get Leo's struggling limbs to keep still.
"Nerve pinch him!" Seren ordered and Chris' eyes widened and he shook his head.
"You're going to have to, he's going to have a heart attack if we can't get his pulse back under control," she said frantically.
"I can't do it right! I might hurt him."
"I can't do it at all, so you're our best shot right now," she said desperately and he shook his head.
"Leo I'm sorry… I'm really, really sorry," he muttered as he lowered his fingertips to his twins meld points once again and forced himself into his struggling twins mind, finding the part of him that was fighting the sedatives so hard and doing his best to get it under control.
It's ok Leo, we're going to make the pain stop, just go to sleep and we'll fix it and when you wake up everything will be fine.
He was vaguely aware of the struggling becoming weaker as he used every scrap of his mental strength to put out the fire of panic and pain inside his twins mind. Finally, Leo lay still, chest rising and falling rapidly, but otherwise still and Chris removed his hand, stumbling backwards and ending up on his knees on the floor.
Leo was rushed away, the whole bed being hurried from the room and Seren and the two other doctors following.
Chris hauled himself to his feet and swayed a little, David rushing to steady him and get him to sit down in the chair in the corner.
"I'm fine," Chris said firmly and David shook his head, grabbing him a tissue from the table where he had taken the one he gave Leo just moments ago. He took it and dabbed at his face, he could feel his nose running. When he drew his hand back the tissue was stained green.
"What the hell happened to Le- Chris are you ok?" Chris blinked hard. It wasn't David stood in front of him now but his father, the doctor in his civilian clothes having obviously rushed over responding to the emergency page.
"Leo… something happened to his stomach," he managed out, feeling so exhausted suddenly that the effort of getting out just a few words was too much for him.
"Leo woke up, started freaking out and grabbing his stomach. They couldn't give him any more sedatives so Chris got in his head and made him stop fighting and to back to sleep. Seren said something about whatever was in his abdomen bursting," David explained quickly and the older McCoy nodded.
"I'll send somebody to check you over, gotta go fix Leo," he said, leaving the room at a fast run, his footsteps echoing down the corridor.
"Joanna, stay with him while I go find someone to-"
"Stay," Chris forced out, reaching clumsily for David's hand as his head started lolling to the side as he sat in the chair.
"Stay with him, it's ok, I'll grab somebody now," Joanna said, hurrying from the room, the door sliding closed behind her.
David put one hand on the side of his bondmates face, finding the skin there covered in a thin sheen of sweat. The part-Vulcan was trembling, face white as chalk and his eyes staring forwards blankly.
"Hey, focus? Try and stay with me," David ordered, crouching a little so he was the same height as Chris slumped in the chair.
"Mhm," Chris said vaguely.
"What do you feel?" he asked and Chris thought for a moment.
"Tired," he forced out, the edges of his vision blurring as his eyes started to close and sleep began to take him.
"Stay awake, keep talking to me-"
David sighed as Chris finally passed out and stood up straight, running his hands through his hair and scowling at the floor.
Joanna came back with a vaguely familiar Doctor in tow.
"He's part Vulcan, so I saw him in the corridor and practically abducted him," she admitted and the slightly apprehensive looking male Doctor nodded. He looked more Vulcan than Chris or Leo, with the traditional haircut similar to Spock's.
"I understand my assistance may be required?" he said flatly and David nodded, gesturing at Chris and starting to talk very fast.
"His twin was uh… he had some problem with him, but he was fighting his sedatives so Chris got in his head to push him back under and then he kind of… I don't know, fainted? I guess. His nose was bleeding and he passed out," he explained feebly and the doctor raised an eyebrow.
"Twin?"
"Yeah, twin, why? Is that relevant?"
"Multiple births of Vulcan's or partial Vulcan hybrids are incredibly rare, a possibility of only one in every-"
"I know. They're rare, but does this matter to what just happened to him?" David asked and the Doctor took a tricorder from his lab coat pocket, striding over to Chris and scanning him with it before turning back to David and Joanna who were exchanging wary glances.
"He has severely overtaxed his mind, his mind which is already strained by the presence of two active bonds which are-"
"Wait. Two bonds?" David interrupted and the Vulcan doctor paused, looking very slightly annoyed before continuing to talk.
"Vulcan twins remain bonded for life, it is involuntary and unbreakable, however it can cause a strain when a marriage bond is formed to another party, resulting in two separate bonds in one mind," he finished and David looked at Joanna, feeling a little guilty.
"I never knew it was like… difficult for him to have both," he mumbled and the Doctor inclined his head slightly.
"Am I to be correct in suggesting you are the bondmate?"
David nodded and the Doctor continued.
"He will be fine, however, he has just exerted himself far beyond recommended levels. I will arrange for another bio-bed to be brought in for him, he will need to rest," he said, turning to leave the room.
"Wait," Chris said weakly and the Doctor paused, turning to look back at him.
"Thank you," he said and the Doctor gave a single curt nod before striding from the room.
"Well he's friendly," Joanna commented sarcastically once his footsteps had faded away.
"Glad you aren't like that. Guess he was raised by the Vulcan parent rather than the human one," David said, affectionately smoothing Chris's hair as he stood beside the chair where he was still sat looking quite pale.
The wait for news about Leo was several nerve-wracking hours.
Emily arrived back to the hospital and became very upset once she found out what had happened, David did his best to talk to her and calm her down and every time her tears stopped it only lasted a matter of minutes before they started back up again. She ended up sat between him and Chris, one of them clutching each of her hands and her head resting on her brother's shoulder.
Finally the door slid open revealing Bones and Seren standing together, both in fresh scrubs and looking equally concerned.
"He ok?" Emily asked quickly and her father raised a hand before sighing deeply and staring at the floor for a few seconds.
"Everybody sit down… this is going to be weird news for you and I don't want to deal with anybody passin' out," he said glumly as Joanna fetched herself a chair and the other three sat up a little straighter. Chris still looked drained and weak, but less so than he had been a few hours before.
The doctor took a deep breath before starting to talk, looking at each of them in turn.
"He's stable and we were able to remove the mass in his abdomen and get a good look at it. Good news and bad news. Good news is that it isn't a tumour," he paused as the room took a collective sigh of relief.
"But there's bad news," Chris pointed out quietly and the doctor nodded, running a hand through his hair and steeling himself for a moment.
"It wasn't a tumour, no. But it was a uterus. It hadn't formed correctly and the impact from earlier today caused a small haemorrhage that turned into a full scale tear. We're reviewing the results from what we removed from his brain two years ago to see if that was a similar sort of formation. He may have never had cancer at all," he finished glumly and everybody was silent for a few minutes.
"Wait… a… what?" Emily finally asked and her father scratched the back of his head uncomfortably.
"There's more," Chris said, reading his body language.
"There is more… I… Emily, I'm sorry. He was carrying an embryo when this happened. About six weeks gestation. We're running DNA right now to-"
"What?" she cut him off, barely above a whisper but he still stopped talking as she interrupted.
"We're running DNA, so we'll know who-"
"He was cheating on me?" she asked, barely above a whisper.
"At this stage that seems likely," he said solemnly and she let out a small whimper as she began to cry again. Joanna quickly gathered her into a hug.
"When am I going to be able to kick his ass?" David asked, standing up aggressively. Chris reached out and caught him by the wrist to stop him from beginning to pace the room.
"A while yet. Whatever Chris did, it worked, and he's still out. I don't know when he's going to come around or what kind of shape he's going to be in when he does. He'll be in a lot of pain-"
"Good," Chris said quickly and David glanced down to see anger flaring in his eyes as he watched Emily crying into Joanna's shoulder.
"DNA should be back within the next few minutes so, then I guess we'll know," he said quietly. He looked conflicted. Part of him wanting to hate the young man who had cheated on his daughter, but part of him unable to hate him because he was so much like his own son.
"Chris, I think it's a good idea to run some scans on you whilst we have you here. If Leo was going through changes, we need to check if the same is happening to you too just in case," he said and Chris nodded, getting wearily to his feet.
"You feeling ok?"
"Kind of like I haven't slept in months, but that's ok. Let's go do these tests, get it over with," he said, David looking at him worriedly as he let go of his hand.
"It'll be ok, I feel fine, not noticed anything weird," Chris assured him.
Bones paused to give his youngest daughter a comforting hug before he and Chris left the room, walking together down one of the endless white corridors before turning left and then soon after left again.
"This is a pretty weird situation," Chris said quietly as he was ushered into a small room.
"Tell me about it," the doctor grumbled. "Also, any of you guys talk to Spock today? I can't reach him and I feel like… as distant as he is with you guys, he should probably make an effort to be here right now," he said bitterly and Chris shrugged.
"I tried to comm. him and didn't get a response. Anyway, you think I might have one too? A womb? I didn't know Leo did."
"That's why we need to take a look, and Leo didn't know that he did… just some weird kinda spontaneous growth, not a million miles from what happened to Jim. You know how this works right?" he asked as Chris surveyed the piece of equipment nervously. It was similar to an older style MRI machine, long and tubular, with a cot that the patient would lay on which would then move into the cylinder and the scan would take place.
"Uh huh, had a couple of these, back in the day," he said, gesturing to his chest and the doctor nodded.
"I wasn't sure if you'd remember. Change into this, then lay down on the cot. I'll be next door in the control room and we can talk through the comm. system, this'll only take a few minutes anyway, ok?" he said as he handed Chris a thin hospital gown and Chris nodded, going into the small area in the corner of the room where there was a curtain for privacy and stripping of his clothes, leaving them in a messy pile and shoving the flimsy gown on over his head. Feeling almost completely naked he stepped out and glanced at the window into the next room, Bones was on the other side now, waiting for him.
"Normally we'd have a nurse to help with this, but I figured you know the drill right?" he said through the comm. system, sounding as though he was still in the room.
"Sure," Chris said, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. The scanner made him claustrophobic. It made him feel like he was in a coffin.
He lay down slowly and waited for the small platform to start moving as it was drawn into the machine.
"Ok kid stay nice and still, this'll be over before you know it," Bones said as he started to move.
He closed his eyes and kept them closed as he held as still as he could, barely even daring to breathe as he was scanned in great detail, the machine whirring around him. It took barely a few minutes but it felt like hours and he was beginning to feel like he was suffocating, the sound of his own heart beating thundering in his ears.
"Alright, we're done, good job," Bones' voice was back and he was coming out of the awful tube again. He took a proper breath and did his best to calm himself down as he was finally able to sit up.
"Get dressed again and come through into here, I'll check the results right now with you," he said and Chris gave him a thumbs up before retreating back behind the partition, shoving his clothes on, and then heading next door as instructed.
It was strange looking at such detailed images of his own insides, but he was relieved when Bones decided there was nothing extra to be found.
"All looks pretty normal to me, nothing is out of place, extra or missing," he said with a small smile and Chris nodded, glancing at Bones' medical PADD as it let out a cheery jingle. The doctor looked at it too.
"That's the lab," he said, snatching it up and looking at the screen, eyed widening as he read the information that he'd been sent.
"What? What is it?" Chris asked.
"I-… I'll be damned," he said softly, eyes rapidly flicking back and forth as he took in the information.
"Who is it?" Chris pressed and the Doctor shook his head, taking the PADD with him and hurrying from the room.
Chris followed him after a few seconds just in time to see him breaking into a run along the corridor.
He stayed where he was, standing half in and half out of the room. He ran one hand through his hair and sighed, wondering if there was possibly anything else at all that could go wrong today.
*~*~*~*~*~*PAGE BREAK*~*~*~*~*~*
It took Jim a little while to realise he was drifting closer to the black hole.
He was weak and in a constant state of confusion, growing increasingly feeble and hopeless as the days stretched by.
He'd given up sending out comm. bursts. The system was barely working as it was, and he had decided that someone must have picked him up by now if it had been working, so he'd decided to just give up.
He'd got used to the view out of the cockpit viewing port, and it took him what felt like a few days to notice that it had changed slightly, he was getting further away from what was in front of him, meaning he was drifting backwards into the black hole.
The hours crept by, and the ship started to groan under the pressure. He felt like opening the airlock. It would be quick he told himself, at least it would be over very quickly. His stomach hurt and his body ached from hunger, his bones protruding against his skin where he felt like it had been weeks since his last meal. The replicator protein wasn't really sustaining him properly, and he knew he was badly dehydrated.
"Computer, is it possible to re-route any power from life support to boost the range of communications?" he asked, his voice coming out weak and barely recognisable as his own.
It is not recommended.
He let out a weak chuckle.
"I don't know if recommended is going to help me right now. Do it. Use all the power we have to boost the signal, tell me when you're ready for me to talk," he said and there was a few seconds of silence, the lights growing dimmer and the hum of the engines quietening.
Proceed with message.
"This is my last attempt at communications… I'm losing power and drifting closer to the singularity. My name is James Tiberius Kirk, of the federation planet Earth. I'm stranded, and I'm without food or water, I only have a few days left of life support too. I need help. If you can hear this, please, please help me, over," he said, voice shaking as he sent out what could well be his final message into the vast expanse of space before him.
Communication transmitted on all available frequencies.
"Thanks computer," he mumbled, sinking down into the chair and closing his eyes, drifting quickly to sleep aided by the lower oxygen levels as life support began to fail.
"Daddy!"
"Hey calm down, you'll pull my arm off!" he laughed as he was dragged out of his bedroom by his excitable young son.
"But we need to hurry!"
"And why's that buddy?" he asked and Christopher looked up at him, wide eyes sparkling as he grinned.
"Because we made you a surprise today," he beamed, leading him down the stairs, still pulling his arm with a considerable amount of force.
"A surprise for me?" he asked and Chris nodded quickly.
"Got to close your eyes now please," he ordered and Jim obeyed, even putting his free hand over his eyes to show his compliance.
The young boy led him through the living room, Jim counting his steps to roughly gauge where he was, before they turned into the kitchen and he heard two other small voices quickly fall silent.
"Crouch down, I can't reach," another small set of hands tugged at the bottom of his worn-out tee shirt and he chuckled, crouching down to be roughly the same height as the six-year old twins.
"Can I open my eyes now?" he asked and his hand was pushed away from his face, being replaced with two small hands, one over each eye.
"Ready for your surprise Daddy?"
"I sure am!" he answered enthusiastically, and the small hands moved away, his eyes opening and taking in the room.
There was a plate of food that looked cooked to a questionable standard sitting at one place at the table, a glass of juice beside it and a stack of messily wrapped gifts next to the food with a card sitting on top.
"Surprise!" squealed the twins, both diving on his back at once, Seren much more sedately sitting at the table just watching with a small smile on her face.
"What's all this for you guys?" Jim asked, feeling his emotions welling up as Leo clumsily pulled out the chair for him so he could sit down.
"Open it," Leo said, fumbling for the card and then handing it to him.
He opened the card and laughed as he saw the front, tears filling his eyes before he could stop them. The card was handmade and neatly drawn, so it made him think Seren had been responsible for it, but it was the message on the front that really made him want to laugh.
'HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!"
"This is very sweet, thank you guys," he said, his fingers trembling a little as he set the card down on the table. They'd all signed it inside, including a wobbly little scrawl from Leo where he'd just learned to write his own name without any help.
"You need to eat your special breakfast, then we can open your presents!" Chris said enthusiastically.
Jim nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat and surveying the food.
"Me and Chris made it. I hope it's ok," Seren said uncertainly and he nodded.
"It looks delicious," he lied easily, tucking into the plate of food. They'd obviously tried to do his favourite fried breakfast, but it was an odd mixture of undercooked and overcooked, and there were bits of shell in the eggs, but he ate it all with a huge grin on his face.
He felt like he should do some parenting about the fact they'd used the stove without his supervision and as bad as it made him feel, he tried to gently tell them off.
"This is so delicious and I'm really grateful, but you all remember the rules about using the stove or the oven right?" he asked gently and he received three nods.
"Sorry. We just wanted you to have a special breakfast," Seren said sadly and he shook his head quickly, worried he'd hurt her feelings.
"No, it is special, and I'm the luckiest… erm… mother in the whole world today, but, just be careful making hot food. I don't want any of you guys to get hurt, that's all, it's only because I worry about you and care about you," he said quickly which seemed to appease them.
He did his best to get the whole plate cleared before draining the glass of juice and looking the small pile of gifts.
"Open them," Chris grinned, pressing the smallest one into his hand.
He held it for a moment before looking at the three of them in turn, smiling widely as his eyes filled with tears again.
"I love you three, come here and give your old mom a big hug before I open my presents," he said, scooping up Leo and Chris who were within his reach and patting his other knee for Seren to jump up.
He wrapped his arms around the three of them and held them close, feeling like the luckiest man alive in that moment.
"Computer, do you have any access to any music files?" he asked weakly.
Negative.
He didn't know why he was surprised. Of course the computer wouldn't have any music stored, it was a Vulcan craft, they didn't exactly find music a 'logical' use of their time, particularly the kind he was hoping for.
"Scanners working?"
Negative.
He sighed and decided it was time to give up. It was getting cold aboard the small ship as the life support system was losing power and he looked around for an extra layer, thankfully finding a warm coat not dissimilar to the one Spock Prime had been wearing when he had first met him on Delta Vega.
He wrapped himself in it, his small frame dwarfed by the bulky jacket and headed for the small sleeping area at the back of the ship. There was one bunk which he lowered himself into, pulling up his hood and wrapping himself up as best he could against the growing cold of the ship.
"Computer, please record this message with the time and date, and play it when the ship is recovered," he ordered and waited a few seconds.
Acknowledged.
He took a deep, shuddering breath and began to speak. First he was talking to Spock, telling him he loved him and he was sorry, then he started talking to the kids, telling them he was sorry too. Then he began talking just so he didn't feel so alone. The temptation to open the airlock grew again as he became more aware of just how cold he was getting.
"I th-think this is it S-Spock. I'm so c-cold. And I'm hungry and I'm t-tired, I'm just so tired Spock. I love you, f-forever, eternity T'hy'la," he finished in a whisper, closing his eyes and waiting to fall asleep, never to wake up again.
He began drifting and thought he felt the ship jolt a short while later, but decided it had to be all in his head, a product of his body shutting down, so he didn't open his eyes. He kept them closed and kept waiting, knowing soon it would be time to go.
