Bonds Know No Distance

[iron_command]

The night was dark and deep and long in space, never ending, without a dawn to break the line between waking and sleep, day and night, beginning and end. It made existence endless, broken only by the silent running of the clocks on the wall, the movements of work, food, and sleep. Without these things, without the sureness of a schedule, time

Comments

[kirktastic]

Nyota was giving him an honest smile, one that wasn't pandering to him, wasn't hiding biting sarcasm behind her beautiful features. This one was real, meant for him at least in part, and somehow... even more meaningful then the hand that was resting on his cheek.

Spock was in his very mind, a real weight against him still, fingers touching him. Spock had not only trusted him enough to not jerk away from his grip immediately, but had thanked him. Had... needed him. Still needed him? No. That wasn't how things worked. People didn't need him. People wanted him, people desired him, people wanted him to lead... but not need.

So he immediately, instinctually, hid the initial wave of panic that came without conscious thought. The problem was? He didn't know how to hide everything he was feeling from someone who could slide hot fingers under his skin and touch his emotions. panicPanic!worry they're together what am I doing shit not now not now!A ressuring grin to Nyota, his eyes warmer then he felt, and he slipped out from under Spock's

[cso_spock]

Something was wrong. Perhaps he had an added advantage of being able to feel it through Jim's mind. Spock could recognize the surge of panic almost as one of his own, the doubt creeping through like water through a wide sieve, completely unhidden. Yet he didn’t know how to soothe it in the immediate sense, confused by it, and in such confusion allowed himself to be shifted from one person to the other without protest. He opened his mouth to argue as he saw Jim’s back disappear out of the room, but was completely lost for words.

Logic didn’t come to his call as fast as it should. Jim’s footsteps disappeared in one, two, three beats to his hearing before Spock reasoned that he had every right to go back to the bridge, too-and after Jim. He kept his hand tight on Nyota’s, looked back at her after he had disappeared. Please, he simply asked, and with her agreement, walked out after Jim into the hallway with her

[just_uhura]

The loss of contact shocked Nyota into silence for a moment, and she couldn't find the words to protest as James shifted Spock closer to her and slipped away. To her surprise (though she wasn't sure who it was coming from, or maybe both of them) it was unpleasant, like someone had doused her with cold water. She opened her mouth to call him back, to assure the worries that he hid behind his bravado and bright smiles were unjustified

[dctr_mccoy]

Bones had shut his eyes as Kirk left sickbay, looking as if someone had just punched him in the stomach. He recognized that look of Jim's - the one of disbelief mixed with an inability to handle strong emotional situations and only having Pike and his Spock attached to his sickbay kept him from following George out the door.

Then Spock took off, followed by Nyota and he was about to just say 'fuck it' to the other two men and go see what the hell was happening when Spock came striding back into Sickbay...

Then he spoke, and it all got even worse.

"What the hell do you mean 'gone'?"

[cso_spock]

"What I mean, Doctor," Spock looked over to look at him directly, an unwavering gaze held there by the same control that was keeping his expression blank of what he was really feeling. "Is that he is not physically present on this vessel."

[dctr_mccoy]

Spock's expression was stoic but there was something going on in his eyes that made Bones cold - this was fucking bad... It was like a pit opened up in his stomach and Bones just stood there, unable to move. He heard Spock's words but they sounded slow in his head, as if played at half-speed.

His own words were sounded foreign in his head. "Where is he?"

[cso_spock]

"If I knew the coordinates of his location, I would have already retrieved him." Spock had his own ways of saying he had no clue what was happening or how to remedy it. He looked over the pain at the biobed, still trapped in their own minds and the intimacy of the meld. His first, immutable instinct was to interrupt it and ask them where his captain had gone, theytookhim--but there was no evidence to either support or refute this conclusion.

He needed to do something productive, needed to get all the variables in hand before he did something rash--like ripping open the break between dimensions and wreaking havoc on the mirrored Enterprise on the other side. "I am returning to the bridge." He told the room, and turned to go, intending to bring Nyota with him. "Inform me when they break the meld." Spock gestured to his mirror and Pike on the biobed. "And maintain a security detail at all times."

[just_uhura]

"We'll find him," was her immediate response to Bones, wanting to reassure him that James would be alright. But it occurred to her that she couldn't promise that, and her eyes darted to the Pike and Spock still locked in their meld as if they were responsible. Taing a deep breath, she tried her very best to calm her emotions, to think before laying blame. The last thing they needed was an inter-dimensional war between ships based on wild accusations. It was extremely, extremely difficult to try and force logic into the forefront of her mind, but she could feel the rush of worry and panic from Spock, and was determined to do what she could to try and steady him.

She reached out for Bones's arm as she passed him, fingers gripping it gently as if that was any consolation for the situation. "Be safe Leo." she pleaded, eyes once again finding Pike and Spock. Hopefully they would be sufficiently distracted. To Spock she turned, her hand still tight in his, her jaw setting in that familiar grim determination. "How the hell did he get off

[dctr_mccoy]

Bones looked back over at Nyota as she touched his arm, leaving behind Spock. She said something but he didn't hear her. Everything was quiet in his head.

The sickbay door swished closed and Bones stood there, staring at it for a minute before turning back to the pair. He wasn't afraid - there were two security guards with him, and he had his phaser on him... he wasn't afraid for him.

Kirk was gone. Taken from the ship. Was this what was happening to the other ships, when the others appeared on their Enterprise. Was Jim on some alternate universe right now, on some other ship with someone that looked like him?

Pike and his Spock... Bones watched them, because there wasn't anything else he could do. This was a helplessness to a degree he hadn't known before. It was all on Spock now, their Spock, and whomever else he got to assist him in getting Jim back. Had to trust the fucking Vulcan to get back the man he- Fuck...

Fucking useless. That ought to be his middle name.

[dctr_mccoy]

A few more moments passed and Bones felt like he was going to break something if he didn't calm down a little. Being in here, alone, no one to share this anger with, no one... It was a making a terrible moment even worse.

George. George, who had chased Jim out of here. George, Bones needed George to talk him through this, to help him find out what Spock was doing on the bridge while he was stuck here in Sickbay.

Bones turned to the computer panel, tapping violently against the screen, looking for where George was. His heart stopped when he saw those words: not on board the Enterprise. No, not George too...

Breathing loudly, he tapped at his communicator. "Sickbay to bridge, I need to talk to Spock, now." The urgency was evident in his voice.

[cso_spock]

He had just taken a seat in his chair at his console--not the captain's chair. There was no logic in sitting there now, he had calculations and data to analyze in his desperate search for Jim--but also because he knew that the seat was not his rightful place. Acting captain or not, it was still Jim's one seat on the bridge, his throne of power. And Spock didn't want to intrude on it just yet in his absence.

Also, he had not told the rest of the ship that the captain had mysteriously disappeared. To take that seat would hint at...the situation. And for now he had no answers if someone asked.

Then the communication. Couldn't McCoy wait at least an hour before panicking, give him some time to find Jim before he started yelling...?

He took the communication at his station. "Yes, McCoy?"

[dctr_mccoy]

"George Kirk," Bones said, trying to catch his breath - when had he lost it? "I tried hailing him but computer says he's no longer on board, either."

"Spock, he was following Jim," he added. "You think both of them-" He stopped, knowing Spock would know what he meant.

[cso_spock]

He had entirely been focused on Jim's lack of existence in the immediate vicinity. He had seen George walk out of the sickbay second, but it had not actually occurred to him, in his panic...

Emotions. He resisted cursing himself (as that was, yet again, another emotion). Distracting him. Preventing him from analyzing the entire situation.

"Yes," Spock agreed with him, finally. "That is quite possible."

[dctr_mccoy]

There was a pause. "Okay. I'll let you know when the bond ends," he said quietly, his voice sort of dead, ending the communication.

He turned back to the pair melding, filled with an empty dread. Kirk was gone. His attention to the two men was half-hearted at best.