Fic: Wanderers Far At Sea, STXI/Buffy/Angel fusion, Kirk/McCoy, R (1/5)
Title: Wanderers Far At Sea
Author: sail_aweigh
Artist: votaku
Mixer: vengefuldemon69
Betas: thistlerose, lindmere
Series: AOS
Characters/Pairings: Kirk/McCoy, Uhura/Spock, Spike/Surprise Guest, Khan, Marla McGivers, Joanna McCoy
Warnings: beheadings and gore, swearing, minor character death
Rating: R for violence and language
Word Count: ~39,000
Summary: STXI/Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series fusion. Jim has kept one part of his life a complete secret from his best friend Bones, but now it appears the bizarre occurrences happening to Joanna McCoy may force him to reveal things to Bones that will either sunder their friendship forever or bring them closer together than either had ever expected. Can Bones trust Jim with Joanna's life, when he's been lied to by his best friend about his very nature?
2264.19
Dear Dad,
Thank you and Uncle Jim for the cool prezzies! I know I should have written sooner, I'm sorry. There's just been so much going on with the new semester. Tresa--that's Tresabel McClay, you remember her, she fell out of the pear tree in the back yard at my sixth birthday party--broke up with Jonathan and Brad started hitting on her during PE. Jonathan got all the other kids to gang up on Brad during dodge ball. The doctors don't think Brad will lose his eye, but he'll have to wear a patch for a while to keep it from getting further damage. The pinhead Jonathan got expelled and he deserved it. And, you're not going to like this, but I kinda got suspended, too. But I didn't know that would happen! Honestly! All I did was sock him on the shoulder. I didn't think I'd bruise him, much less dislocate a joint. Mom says I have to do some community service. I choose to do it at the children's hospital. I can't imagine being stuck in there for the holidays; maybe I can cheer them up some.
I still don't understand it, though. I didn't mean to hurt him. Much.
I miss you, Dad. It was nice having you and Uncle Jim on Earth between missions last year. I promise to write more often this time. For reals.
Love,
Jo
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"Ow! Dammit, Jim! I think you broke my tibia." From his position flat on his back on the gym mat, Bones pulled his knee up to his chest and felt gently along his left shin, wincing as he pressed a little too hard against the sore limb as he evaluated the injury.
Jim knelt down by Bones' side, his face drawn into a look of concern. "I don't know how, Bones; it was just a simple leg sweep. That's never happened to anyone I've sparred with before." He watched without touching, struggling to keep his hands to himself. Jim itched to take the injured leg in his hands and soothe the ache with a little bit of a healing charm, but he knew that any attempt on his part to do that would be looked at with incomprehension and doubt, possibly even the fear that had led to witch hunts in less enlightened times.
Bones completed his examination and straightened the leg with a grunt. "Not broken. You just bruised the hell out of it. Next time, I'm wearing shin pads. Hell, just get me that outfit a baseball catcher wears, that should be enough padding. I'm too damn old for this shit, Jim." He rolled over on his side, then onto his hands and knees where he used his good leg to push himself upright. Jim took the extremely brief opportunity to admire the fine backside that was presented to him as he did.
"Sorry, old man, this is going to keep happening fairly regularly. Well, not the breaking your leg part, but the sparring part. You know the regs: semi-annual physical fitness test, mandatory training, blah, blah, blah. Besides, it doesn't hurt to be prepared for someone losing it from space madness in Sickbay, now does it?" Jim grinned at Bones and, under the guise of patting him on the back, clasped the back of his neck, sending a quick surge of healing energy into his friend. Jim let his hand linger just a second or two against the warm skin of Bones' neck before dropping it to his side. It wasn't something he could afford to do often onboard ship; there was less of an energy reservoir to draw from in the inert metals that comprised the hull and inner workings of the ship, which left him relying on his personal energy stores, unlike the massive life potential of an entire planet.
Bones rolled his eyes. "Fat lot of good training does me when it causes me more injuries than I'll ever inflict on someone else."
"Yeah, yeah, you're a lover, not a fighter." Jim looked off to one side and grimaced at the spectacularly stupid words that had just come out of his mouth.
"C'mon, Jim, you aren't still peeved about that, are you? Is that why I'm limping out of here on one good leg? Maybe you meant to do this?" Bones turned and poked a finger into Jim's chest.
Jim threw his hands up and backed away. "Hey, hey, no. I am not angry, I never was. Janice and I called it quits amicably. You had every right to take your best shot." Jim didn't say that he wished that best shot would be with him. Instead, he had to worry about Janice Rand and her Medusa-locks snaring the man of his dreams. Hell, Jim had been snared for a while, even knowing he wanted someone else. "Besides, after Teddy, I wasn't sure for a while that you'd ever decide to date again. I'm happy for you." The lie sat heavy in his mouth, but he had to convince Bones to drop the subject before he let his jealousy get the better of him and gave himself away.
.
The truth was, Jim had been in love with Bones for longer than he was even willing to admit to himself. He'd watched Bones date a lot of people over the past nine years, starting with Nancy Oglethorpe during their years at the Academy. Love hadn't been on Jim's agenda at the time, but somehow the people Bones dated disturbed him. He refused at the time to admit that it was jealousy. Not that he'd realized it back then, but now that he knew what it was and what he wanted he felt like a six-year-old with his nose pressed up against the glass wondering how much the puppy in window cost. At least back then, Roger Crater had solved the Nancy Oglethorpe problem for him. Now, he had to sit on his hands and do something he really didn't believe in--pray.
"Thanks, Jim. Janice is something...that could be special. I wouldn't want this new relationship to get in the way of our friendship." Bones snagged Jim's elbow and turned him towards the door. "C'mon, kid, let's go get some dinner. I figure you can make it up to me by eating your salad without any complaints about rabbit food for once. Besides, I gotta tell you about Jo's latest letter."
Jim grinned at the sound of the teen's name. "What's she been up to this time? Covering the boys’ locker room door in pink toilet paper after the boys’ cross country team lost to the girls was pretty inspired. Reminds me of the time Gary and I--"
"Jim, the last thing I want is Jo taking after your high school record in any way, shape or form." Bones squinted one eye at Jim in suspicion, as if he knew his friend had conspired with Jo long distance to pull off that particular prank. Her latest infraction seemed to be more well-intentioned, if somewhat less well-implemented, but the end results were still in the negative column.
Jim waved one hand in dismissal of Bones' complaint. "Bones, no one will ever achieve my record, again. I had more days suspended than they ever saw or ever will see at Riverside High and still held a 4.0 average. It's just high spirits. Didn't you get up to anything a little reprehensible back then? I seem to remember a few stories of whipped cream in the nurses’ surgical clogs at Emory and tying big toes to the door of the on-call suite so some poor schmuck would find himself pulled half out of bed when anyone came in to crash? Pot, meet kettle."
Bones ducked his head and forced a scowl when a grin threatened to come through, remembering some fun times. "Yeah, but none of those actually ever hurt anyone."
Jim stopped in the middle of the passageway. "Wait. What? Jo wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Not on purpose, no." Bones scrubbed both hands over his hair, mussing it up and then smoothing it down again. It left a few cowlicks standing that Jim itched to straighten out for him. Bones shook his head. "Her last letter, I don't know. I'll let you read it, I usually do anyway, but this one--there's just something off about it."
Jim put one hand on Bones' shoulder and turned him to face him. "Jo would never purposefully hurt anyone. Well, not with forethought, anyway. She might punch Jimmy Sudowski in the nose again for calling Mrs. McLennan fat, but that would be in the heat of the moment and she's, well, she's a girl. How much damage can she do?" And that was one area Jim was going to keep his mouth shut on; he knew all too well just how much damage females could do. His mother had taken him on more than one hunt, tucked away in safe corners where he had learned to be very, very quiet. He'd quit being quiet when he was twelve and his mother left him Earthside for the first time on that mission to Tarsus.
"She dislocated a kid's shoulder, Jim! That's pretty serious. I'm worried maybe she's hanging out with the wrong crowd, gotten herself into something she doesn't understand." Bones crossed his arms, hugging himself like he could hold onto his little girl and keep her from getting into more trouble. Jim was touched by the gesture, despite the cold chill that trickled down his spine. He needed to see that letter. And then he needed to call Chris Pike and find out which Slayer was down. He could be wrong and he sure as hell hoped so, he didn't want to see Jo become the isolated, emotionally distant killing-machine that most Slayers turned into; Jo was too kind-hearted, too compassionate to embrace that lifestyle willingly.
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2264.27
Dear Dad,
Don't ever let me dye my hair blond. Seriously. I had a really weird dream last night, where I was running through a cemetery chasing someone with a pointy stick. How stupid is that? What good is a stick? Even stupider is that when I stuck it into this guy's back in my dream he disappeared in a cloud of dust! Geez, why didn't I just use a phaser? Must have been the blond hair I had in the dream. Tell Uncle Jim his Clairol is safe from me!
The children's hospital is both fun and sad. I get to play all kinds of games with them and they are a bunch of sharks! I got totally taken in Candyland by a five-year-old. And it's really sad, because in just the last week I came in and found an empty bed. Ryan was allergic to the kidney pills and they couldn't get him a new one in time. It's just not fair that everyone can't have the benefits of all our medical knowledge, Daddy. Please don't let anything like that happen to Uncle Jim. 'Kay?
Love,
Jo
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"Damnit, Jim! What the hell good did you think it would do to stick that thing with a letter opener?" Bones fumed as he spritzed Jim's arm with disinfectant before snatching up a dermal regenerator to run it over the scratches in his forearm. Jim flinched at the sting.
"It wasn't a letter opener, Bones, it was a silver poignard. I couldn't reach my phaser and the knife was right there in my boot. I stabbed it, it died, end of story." Well, as much of the story as he was willing to divulge. Jim couldn't tell Bones that the only thing that would kill a Fyarl demon was silver, so he had to "lose" his phaser in order to use what could kill it.
"About as useful as teats on a boar hog, if you ask me. You and Jo should compare notes sometime." Bones ran the regen unit over Jim's arm one last time, before spritzing the arm with a final coating of disinfectant. He turned to the tray of sterile dressings and picked one up to lay over the newly healed skin. "Keep that covered for another day, you should be fine."
Jim pulled his tattered shirt sleeve down over the bandage. "Will do. What's that about Jo, though? Did she get in trouble in school again?"
Bones chuckled slightly, his head shaking in negation. "No, she related some crazy dream she had in her last letter. Stabbing people with wooden sticks, even more useless than that toadsticker of yours."
"Wasn't useless at all, was it, though?" Jim jumped down off the biobed and shook his legs out to loosen up.
Bones looked at him, his eyes narrowed in contemplation. "No, it was pretty damn effective. And so was Jo's stick, in her dream."
Jim leaned back against the biobed with his legs crossed at the ankle. He looked down at his boots, the one where his knife was tucked turned prominently towards Bones. "If it gets the job done, that's all that matters, Bones."
"Still think a phaser would have been more efficient. Killing something with pointy weapons just seems so...uncivilized. Like me using a needle and thread to sew you up." Bones put the last of the unused supplies away in a cupboard before turning back toward where Jim was standing. "Didn't impress Jo much either. She would have used a phaser. Jo's right, must be something about blonds."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being blond, I know some awesome blonds." Jim lifted one hand to his mouth and blew on his knuckles, then rubbed them on his shirt.
Bones cocked a finger at him and smirked. "Jo knows about your Clairol, dipshit. It's the only reason either of us gives you the benefit of the doubt."
Jim slumped back with his arms crossed against his chest. "There's not enough sun out here; I wouldn't need the stuff if I could just get to a beach a little more often. Besides, you shouldn't impugn blonds when you're dating one. And your most competent nurse is a gorgeous blond. You wouldn't be caught dead saying anything bad about blonds around Chapel."
Bones looked over his shoulder, back toward the intake area of Sickbay, which was obscured by the curtain pulled around the biobed for privacy. "Shhhh. That woman has ears like a bat; you even mention her name and she appears to destroy my equanimity even worse than you do, Jim."
"Doctor McCoy, I've got Ensign Rosenberg out here with a strange rash." Chapel's voice penetrated the curtain, giving proof to Bones' words. "He claims he got it from working on the anti-matter containment grid, but it looks a lot like he brushed against the Denevian Wormwort in the botany lab. Where all the cool kids go to get their contraband cannabaceae products."
Jim and Bones looked at each other. Bones cocked an eyebrow and jerked his chin in Nurse Chapel's direction. "Case in point right there."
"Now, that is one hell of a buzz kill on that woman. I swear I could leave Chapel in charge and she'd have them more squared away than I could ever hope to. Good thing she never applied for command track or I'd be out of a job. Well, I'll leave you to it, Bones." Jim straightened up and pushed off from the biobed, stopping just momentarily next to Bones. "You going to share Jo's latest letter with me, again? It sounds like another humdinger."
Jim attempted not to fidget while Bones contemplated him silently. "You really get a kick out of her letters. You're not going to turn into some kind of creeper, are you, Jim? I'd hate to have to accidentally inject you with a libido suppressant during your next round of inoculations."
Jim got an appalled look on his face, then looked down at his feet. "Oh, hell, no. She just, okay, you never knew my mother, but she kinda reminds me of her. It's hard to explain." He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and looked up at Bones from under his eyebrows. Jim knew it made him look a lot more boyish and vulnerable, and sure thing, Bones turned a little red at the semi-flirtatious glance. He didn't like to use it, but even Bones wasn't immune to it and he needed to see those letters. Pike had said none of the active Slayers had been reported missing and until there was a confirmed loss in the ranks, he wasn't assigning a Watcher to Joanna; there had to be some other explanation. Jim was convinced that Jo had been Chosen and that the letters would prove it.
"Well, sure, kid. If it means that much to you. I know you and Jo get along well. You know, you can even write her yourself, if you want. I don't mind. And I'll tell her to add your comm address to her letters so you don't have to ask to read them each time."
Jim clasped Bones by the shoulders and gave him a big grin. "Thanks, Bones. That means more to me than you'll ever know." Jim pulled the curtain around the biobed back to leave. Before he was able to get more than a couple steps away he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned back to Bones, who had a soft look on his face.
"Jim, I don't want you to think I think you're some kind of perv, not really. I guess I take it for granted sometimes that everyone has family that cares and keeps in contact with each other. Seriously, if you want to consider Joanna part of your family, that makes me very happy." Bones' eyes looked straight at him, sincere and frank. It was all Jim could do not to lean in and kiss him in gratitude, but he restrained himself to just a smile and a squeeze of the elbow.
"We're all one big family up here, but, yeah, it means a lot that you're willing to share Jo with me. Now, I've got to go change my shirt and get back to the bridge, duty calls." Jim turned away and nearly scurried out of Sickbay, a heaviness in his heart at the way he'd manipulated his friend. It wasn't like he didn't honestly like Jo and have her welfare at heart, but he couldn't tell his friend the truth and it was like acid in his veins. Family, the one thing that he could always count on to hurt him and he was betraying it with every word out of his mouth.
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2264.33
Dear Dad (and Uncle Jim),
Is getting better eyesight part of going through puberty? I don't care about the boobs and stuff, I kinda don't wish they'd happen. I mean, look at Tresa and Jonathan. He got back into school because his dad paid off the principal and half the Board of Education and what did Tresa do? She took him back! Probably because he's the one boy taller than her that doesn't squeak like a chipmunk. The only reason I know, though, is because I saw them. Which surprised me. Not that they were making out, but that I could see them. They were behind the bleachers out by the football field and I was over by the field house on the other side of the 50-yard line. Can one have, like, telescopic vision? Kinda cool, but it's a little freaky. Why now?
Uncle Jim, your record at skeet shooting is going down the next time you're on shore leave here!
Love,
Jo
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Fuck! Jim stopped in his tracks, ducking behind the wide fronds of one of the palm-like plants that lined the sides of the path. Up ahead of him, Bones and Teddy Meers, were locked in a stare down. They were standing much closer than required for casual conversation, their shirts blended into a larger blur of blue with the stripes on their sleeves making them look like a bizarre combination of lieutenant commander and lieutenant. The stellar cartographer had one hand on Bones' arm, but Bones didn't seem to be shaking him off. They looked completely wrapped up in one another and Jim debated whether it would be wise to interrupt or let them complete their discourse before joining them. The sound of his name drew his attention back to the couple and sealed his decision; he kept his place, tucked away from view.
"I thought when you dumped me, that I'd be hearing you were dating Jim Kirk." Teddy sounded incredulous.
Bones' eyebrows twitched, one rising only slightly before settling back down; Jim realized this wasn't a major surprise to Bones. "You thought wrong, Teddy. I told you more times than I can remember that Jim and I are very good friends, best friends, but we aren't like that."
Teddy slashed one hand through the air. "You could have fooled me. The way you talk about him constantly, it's like he’s an obsession for you."
Jim didn't need to see Bones to know his eyes were bouncing from one side of his head to the other like the steel ball bearings in an antique pinball machine. "What part of ‘best friend’ don't you understand?"
Teddy pushed Bones' arm away from him. "Maybe I wanted you to be my best friend, not just my lover, Len! Did you ever consider that?"
Bones crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "It takes time, Teddy. We might have got there if you hadn't been so damn jealous."
Teddy reached out with both hands and smoothed them up Bones' arms to his shoulders. "Who's to say we still couldn't get there? I still think about you all the time. I miss you, Len."
"Sorry, but that ship sailed without you. Janice and I have something good going; I'm not about to throw that away when it's obvious my friendship with Jim still bothers you." Bones shrugged Teddy's hand off his shoulders, taking a step back.
Teddy grimaced. "You couldn't even choose your girlfriend for yourself? You had to take Kirk's leftovers?"
"Fuck you, Teddy. I'm starting to see I didn't know you nearly as well as I thought. You ever say something like that about Janice again, I'll put you down like a dog." Bones' hands were clenched into fists held close to his side, surprising Jim that he hadn't just decked the crude ass for what he'd said. Well, maybe that was more something Jim would do; Bones would just conveniently "lose" the officer's inoculation record so that he'd have to take them two--maybe three--times more often than required. Bones, being the sneaky bastard that he was, would give the chosen officer placebo injections--many, many injections. Jim rubbed his neck at the phantom pain left over from the last time that had been pulled on him.
"I'm not the one who heels when Jim Kirk calls. You go back to your master and beg for more scraps." Teddy sneered, but then stumbled back in shock when one of those fists finally came up from Bones' side and crashed right into his jaw. Jim nearly applauded, but held his silence watching the scene play out.
"Don't come near me, I want nothing to do with you ever again. I recommend if you need medical attention you wait until beta shift to visit Sickbay, when I’m off duty." Bones made an abrupt about face that had Jim scrambling further back into the scavvy looking for more cover.
Shit, shit, shit, he should have interrupted. He'd learned more than he'd bargained for and much of it didn't make him very happy. Bones was his best friend, going on close to ten years. Jim had hoped that maybe Bones would start to see him as more than a friend someday, but that had been firmly shot down by his own words just now. He slumped back against the trunk of a tree, his legs akimbo, arms lax between them.
Jim was startled out of his self pity by a pair of boots that planted themselves in front of his. He placed his elbows on his knees, chin in hands and addressed Bones with a wry grin. "Busted."
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Jim? I don't much appreciate being spied on. Hope you heard something good." Bones stood with his chin sticking out in defiance, his brows drawn down in anger.
"Sorry, Bones. I saw you two talking and it looked intense, so I didn't want to interrupt. I just meant to wait here until you were done so we could walk together." Jim scrubbed his hands through his hair. Christ, he was making some stupid decisions lately. Being in love with his best friend sucked.
"Yeah, well, you know what they say about eavesdroppers. Figure you got a good load from Teddy. C'mon, kid, let's take that walk." Jim noticed that Bones looked off to one side, his face a little flushed, before he reached a hand down to help Jim to his feet.
"Actually, how did you know I was here?" Jim gave Bones a sideways glance as they pushed through the underbrush back to the path. "I thought Jo was the one with the freakish eyesight, but maybe that's because she inherited it from you?"
Bones shook his head. "No, dumbass, I saw your back as you veered off the path earlier; the bright gold is kind of eye-catching, ya know. Honestly, I'm glad you didn't interrupt; I found out more about Teddy Meers in those last couple minutes than I did in the nine months we were going out. I can't believe I fell for that." Jim didn't like the look on Bones' face, the way his mouth turned down in disappointment and regret.
"Hey, he hid it well. I never figured him for such an uptight asshole. And I didn't realize you had to put up with so much jealous bullshit from him either. I would have made myself a lot more scarce if I'd had any clue." Jim wanted to sling an arm over Bones' shoulders, but the urge to pull him into his chest for more made him refrain. He'd had no problem being handsy with Bones until he'd discovered that every time he touched him he wanted more, and Bones didn't. So, he'd stopped. Well, as much as he was able to. The backslaps and a few occasional touches to the forearm and shoulder were all he'd allow himself these days.
Bones snorted. "I spent as much time with you as I wanted to, so don't you go blaming yourself for anything. Damn martyr complex you have."
Jim allowed himself one of those brief touches to Bones' arm. "You know, if you and Janice need more time with each other, don't let me--"
"Damnit, Jim. Have you heard one word out of my mouth in the last five minutes?" Bones stopped and turned towards Jim, looking him directly in the eye. "I have no problem saying 'no' to you. I have my time divided up exactly as I want it, no more, no less. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, yeah, I do." Jim teetered on the brink of delight that he got so much of Bones' time and despair at the way he could parcel it out so easily, like Jim was just another task to be coordinated on his schedule. He stretched his mouth into a smile that felt as fake as George Washington's teeth. "Thanks, Bones. I better get going; I was supposed to help Spock draw up a roster for the away mission on Manwah IV and I think I'm five minutes late. I don't know if I can handle the Vulcan pointy eyebrow of doom when I get there. If you don't see me in the mess by 1800, stop by my ready room and make sure I'm not bleeding out." Giving Bones one last slap on the back, Jim turned around and hustled back toward the entrance to the botany lab, cursing his heart the whole way.
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2264.37
Dear Dad and Uncle Jim,
We were studying the destruction of Vulcan in history this week and I had a really odd feeling of deja vu. Or deja dream, or something. Are lightning storms in space common? I never heard of one until yesterday, yet last week I had a dream about one. It was kind of freaky, because it looked like the same blond girl in my dream a couple of weeks ago. And this time, she had to jump into the middle of this rift in the sky that was full of lightning. I don't know what a black hole looks like, but it looked painful, Daddy. And I could hear a voice in my head whispering, "Summer's blood, it has to have summer's blood."
I wish I knew who or what summer's blood was. Is that the girl's name? Did she have to jump during the summer? What's so special about the blood? God, these dreams freak me out! I haven't slept well in months, and I can't concentrate in school. I wish it would all just stop.
I'm sorry, Dad, I'm being a real Debbie Downer. Tell me what you and Uncle Jim have been up to lately? Have you finally learned how to do a competent leg sweep? Next time you guys have shore leave on Earth, I want to try some of the things I've seen in my dreams with you two. I don't know if they would work or not, but Jim at least would know.
More later, I've got a report to write for Miss Flutie's civics class before bed.
Love,
Jo
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Jim came awake slowly, the soft beep of the biobed monitors translated to a discordant buzzing in his ears by the headache just behind his eyes. He tried to sit up, but his stomach muscles protested in a way that told him he'd had a heavy dose of regeneration directed at the offending area. Curious, he lifted his covers and looked at the sterile dressing covering most of his lower abdomen. Oh, yeah. Manwah IV.
"Fucking Summers' blood," he mumbled, before dropping the covers and letting his head fall back on the pillow. His mouth was parched and he really, really wanted a drink of water right about then.
A startled grunt and a clatter of plastic came from Jim's left. He rolled his head to the side, taking in the sight of Bones looking between Jim and the PADD he'd just dropped.
"Hey, Bones. Would kill for a glass of water about now." Jim cracked a small grin and licked his lips; it didn't help.
"Sure, kid, I think we can do that." Bones walked over to the table by the side of Jim's bed, picking up a pitcher of water and pouring a glass half full. He stuck a straw in it before turning and holding it in front of Jim's mouth. Jim lipped gratefully at the straw, sucking down a good mouthful of water. Jim glanced up and noticed the way Bones' eyes watched his mouth as he sucked at the straw; he even thought he detected a slight flush across his cheekbones. It made his heart beat a little heavier in his chest at the thought that maybe, just maybe, Bones was a little more attracted to him than he let on. The slight increase in the tempo of the biobed monitors drew Bones' eyes away from Jim's mouth, but he didn't indicate that there was anything unusual or suspicious about the change.
"Thanks, man. My mouth was dry as a desert." Jim relaxed back into the pillows behind him. "Where's the control on this thing? I want to sit up a little, but I don't think my abs are in any shape to try that on my own for a while."
Bones dug around in his scrubs pocket and pulled out a little remote that he handed to Jim. A couple of mistaken buttons later, Jim finally had the head of his bed propped where he wanted it to look around his cubicle and the rest of Sickbay.
"Did G'lyx'el and Suskind make it back to the ship in one piece?" Jim took another worried glance around at the other cubicles, hoping the lack of the two members of his security team meant his ploy had been successful.
"G'lyx'el had to sit under a regen unit for a couple of minutes--strained a tendon in her ankle--but they're both just fine. Hell of a lot better than you, Jim." Bones turned from where he had been standing at the side of his bed, moving back to the counter where he had dropped his PADD earlier at Jim's waking.
Jim smoothed his hands over his stomach. He was looking forward to getting back to his own quarters as soon as possible. There were meditations he could do to encourage healing at a deeper level than Bones' equipment could provide. The sacrifice had required blood, quite a bit of blood, before the Manwahri were satisfied that the Federation had their best interests at heart. Even without some sort of mystical convergence, it seemed nothing but Summers' blood would be adequate. Sometimes, he fucking hated his great-whatever-grandfather Colin Finn for marrying a descendant of the Key. Lost in his ruminations, Jim was startled when Bones dropped his PADD in his lap. He looked up at him in surprise, his eyebrows--for once--doing the hairline acrobatics one was accustomed to seeing from the doctor.
"What's this? Is there something besides the condition of the security team I need to be made aware of?" Jim picked up the PADD and his eyebrows took a steep dive from curiosity to concern. "What's wrong? Is Jo in trouble again? Did someone--" His frantic questioning was cut off by Bones' finger as it pointed to a particular line of text in the latest comm.
"Care to explain this?" Bones tapped at the screen again. "You said, and I'll quote, 'Fucking summer’s blood'. Jim, this comm came while you were being held by the Manwahri, so I know you didn't see this earlier. What does it mean?"
Jim thought frantically. He didn't have a good explanation; meaning, he didn't have a scientific explanation that Bones would find acceptable. His chest clenched in denial at what he knew he should do. And he couldn't do it, not to his best friend. That kind of memory spell was a horrible violation of a person's integrity. He looked down at the PADD in his hands and back up at Bones, thinking as fast as he could. Could he fall back on something simple, like a plain old lie?
"It was something the Manwahri said to me; it appeared to be a metaphor. The sacrifice required 'summer's blood.' In case you didn't notice, I was the only blond on the away team. They equate blond hair with their summer season. Not surprisingly, most Terrans do, too. The fact it turned up in Jo's last comm is sheer coincidence. Unless your family is clairvoyant? Something you want to come clean on?" Jim handed the PADD back to Bones and leaned back against his pillow with his hands tucked behind his head, trying to make his body language as open as possible.
Bones grunted, but didn't look pacified. Instead, he scrolled through the comm to another passage and pointed this one out to Jim with a stabbing finger. "What about this? Lightning storms in space have only happened twice that we know of. Why would Jo be dreaming about one that has nothing to do with Nero? I know people can be suggestible, but the coincidences are piling up thick and fast here. Plus, she had that dream before they got to that section in her studies. I'm putting two and two together here and I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say you know something about how it makes four."
Jim stuck one hand out and took the PADD from Bones, reading over the passage. There wasn't a great amount of detail to go by; this could be spun his way. He didn't like the way Bones was standing by the side of his bed, his arms clasped tightly over his chest, shoulders hunched like he was waiting for a blow to fall.
"Bones, you're making a mountain out of a molehill. A lightning storm on Earth and a lightning storm in space are two very different things; there's no reason to believe the two are related. What's the big deal here? Is there something you're not telling me or that you're worried about?" Jim set the PADD down and clasped his hands over it, his head bent towards Bones attentively. He reached a hand out and gestured toward the chair by the side of his bed. "Sit."
Relaxing his tense pose only slightly, Bones took the seat offered. Jim reached out and laid a hand on his back, stroking his thumb across the short hairs on the nape of his neck. "Tell me what's going on in that worst-case-scenario generator you call a brain, Bones."
Bones leaned forward in his chair, planting his elbows on his thighs so his hands could drop between his knees where he wrung them. "I guess I'm just grasping at straws, Jim. I'm really worried that Jo has fallen in with a group of kids experimenting with drugs, particularly hallucinogenics. Her dreams are so bizarre and disjointed from reality. And the sensory overload sounds more like cannabis, but it could be so many different things. She's at that age that’s susceptible to peer pressure and experimentation--if I could find any other explanation for it, I'd jump at it. You understand." His head dropped even lower as he lifted his hands to clasp the back of his neck. Jim's hand dropped away, refusing the urge to grab one of Bones' and never let go.
Jim understood all too well--understood things that he was forbidden to tell his friend, and afraid to tell him, too--and wished he could say as much to Bones. He ached to run his hand over the mussed brown hair, to caress his cheek and give him the comfort of touch. Instead, he gave him the best comfort he could at the moment through his words. "Jo is a remarkably sensible young lady. I don't believe she'd fall for that kind of thing. She's got too much of you in her."
Bones looked up, his mouth quirking up at one corner, even with the slight tremor in it. "Yeah, she is pretty tough. Doesn't take much guff from anyone, not even me or her mother." Jim removed his hand from Bones' back as he finally leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath, some calm returning to his features.
"We've completed this current mission, secured the land for a trading post on Manwah IV. I'll ask Pike if we can pull in for some shore leave soon, get you in to Lunar Space Dock and you can spend some time with Jo. Would that help?" Jim laid a hand on Bones' shoulder, sending a burst of reassurance through the touch and watched Bones' face smooth out and the eyebrows open up across his forehead.
"Yeah, it would, a lot. Thanks, Jim." Bones reached up and scrubbed his hands across his face letting out a sigh.
"Well, I'm not doing it just for you, so don't go giving me the grateful damsel tears. We're due for a Service Period Adjustment on the ship at the end of next month; I've got a plus/minus factor of six weeks on when it has to be done, so we can head that way sooner rather than later." Jim picked up the control to the biobed and started fiddling with it, missing the physical contact with his friend, but knowing he had to restrain himself. Eventually, Bones would clue in to his desires if he didn't leave the man alone.
Bones slapped a hand down on the covers next to Jim's leg. "Don't go ruining your grand gesture, now. Let me maintain my rosy vision of you as a knight in shining armor. I know I don't always come first in your thoughts, but I'm quite happy with where I lie in your affections."
Jim's heart stuttered at the words. If only Bones knew, really knew. Would he still be happy?
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2264.40
Dear Dad,
Mom wants me to go to a therapist. She says my dreams are "a manifestation of your inability to accept separation and an unrealistic fear of space in the guise of death that your father has inculcated in you." Bitch. Sorry! But, honestly, I'm not afraid of space. I've been out to see you on the Enterprise twice and didn't have any problem with the shuttle rides or the transporter. I'm not afraid of space, although I might be afraid of dying. But who wouldn't be? It's the end of everything, it's the end of you as a person. I'm not ready to be ended, yet. And not by some stinking monster that has green skin and red horns coming out of his head. Stupid dreams.
Love,
Jo
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Jim looked at the cards in his hand, then back at the discard pile on the table. Was it worth it to scoop up most of the pile just to get one card? Yes, he'd be able to lay a spread of four cards down, but it would leave him with more in his hand than Bones, who had yet to lay anything. The right discard, though, should achieve exactly what he needed. Making up his mind, Jim scooped up the top six cards of the discard pile, made his run and discarded the two of spades.
"Why, thank you, Jim. You couldn't have discarded better than if you were reading my mind." Bones picked up the two, threw out an eight of hearts and then laid his whole hand out in two runs and a book of four. "Rummy." He picked up the PADD next to him and typed in his score.
"Tcha. Negative fifty-five." Jim threw his cards on the table in disgust. "What does that give you? Are you going to go out before we've even been playing an hour? C'mon, Bones!"
Bones looked at Jim over the rim of the glass he'd picked up, his smirk hidden by the bourbon that mostly filled it. "Whining does not become a starship captain. We've been playing two hours, infant, and I've only got three hundred and forty-five points. It'll be a while before either of us hits five hundred."
Damn, Jim had thrown as many hands as he safely could without Bones suspecting anything. He'd left a message with Spike to comm him at 2230 ship's time, believing that he had the night to himself and wouldn't be interrupted during the call. Only Bones had shown up at his door a little after he'd come back to his quarters from dinner and a chat with Spock about the upcoming visit to Deep Space Six.
"Okey-doke, then. Guess I'm going to have to meld like a badass this time around." Jim scooped all the cards together and started shuffling.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you had a date tonight, Jim. You've been wiggling in your chair like you got ants in your pants." Bones watched as Jim dealt out the cards, ten each, then gathered his cards up. He fanned them and started placing them in order.
Jim leaned back in his chair, a little chagrined that Bones seemed to have tuned in to his underlying anxiety. Bending his head to hide the slight flush he could feel starting, he picked up his own cards to do likewise. "Nah, no other plans. Although, since you brought it up, I thought you were having dinner with Janice tonight?"
Two spots of color bloomed on Bones' cheeks. Jim was surprised that Bones would be embarrassed to admit he had a date; he'd been dating Janice for four weeks now. Did he think Jim was still pining over her?
Bones laid his cards face down with a sigh and picked up his drink, swirling the liquid around in the bottom of the glass. "We did, Jim. And during dinner we decided that it just wasn't quite working the way either of us thought it would. I have a great deal of affection and admiration for Janice; she’s a remarkable woman. I mean, she puts up with you on a daily basis and doesn't run screaming." He looked up at Jim with one corner of his mouth quirked up. "Anyone who can stomach that much unadulterated Jim Kirk is something all right in my book. But, well, I think what I liked most about her was that she isn't wowed by you."
Jim's head tipped back in surprise. "Plenty of people aren't wowed by me! Besides Janice, that is. Spock isn't wowed by me, or Uhura. You've seen how often I come back beaten and bloody; that's a hell of a lot of people who aren't wowed by me."
"Maybe not when they first meet you, but once they've known you for a while, they all fall under your spell." Bones grimaced and raised his glass to his lips to take a swig, hiding his disgruntlement behind the act of drinking. "Spock falls in behind you like a wingman slotting into formation, Uhura quit rolling her eyes when she called you captain about six months into our first tour. Look at how many treaties you've secured because of those beatings you take. People look up to you. It's hard not to."
Jim reached a hand across the table, palm up in entreaty. "Bones, that's just being a good leader. I am a good leader. You sound almost like you're jealous."
Bones shook his head. "Not of your leadership ability. I know I'm good at what I do and my people look up to me pretty much the same way."
"Then what is it?" Throwing out his arms in exasperation, Jim rocked back in his chair, the front feet coming off the floor and then thumping back down.
Bones slammed a hand down on the table. "They want you, Jim. They want you, I want you, we all want you and none of us can have you. Is that enough for your ego?" His face flushed red and then paled at what he had revealed. Jim could only stare, frozen in place by the spanner thrown into his smoothly running emotional cogs. They started up again, when he realized that Bones was admitting what he'd always wanted to hear: that Bones wanted him as much as he wanted Bones. Jim stood up, his chair crashing to the ground as he rushed over to the other side of the table.
Jim pushed Bones' chair away from the table, boxing him in with his hands on the chair arms. "Do you mean that?" He looked into Bones' eyes. When those eyes tried to slide away from him, he grabbed Bones' chin in one hand and tugged it back towards him.
"Please, Bones, you don't know--God, you have no idea how much I've wanted to hear something like that. Years, man, for years." Giving in to a long-standing urge, Jim brushed his knuckles against the side of Bones' face, his stubble a rough caress against the back of his fingers, before cupping one cheek with his palm. "Please, look at me."
"Years, Jim?" Bones looked directly at him, the pinched-in eyebrows loosening up to a more hopeful arch. One hand rose slowly to cover the one on his cheek. "I never would have guessed. Ever. You seem so driven, so single-minded. And that drive doesn't seem to include a permanent partner of any kind. You're so goal-oriented: one mission after the other"
Jim turned his hand to grasp Bones' and tugged him up out of his chair. Pulling him over to the love seat in the conversation area, he pushed Bones to sit on one side while he took a position facing him on the other side. He didn't let go of the hand he held, though. He had waited so long to be able to do something so simple, and by the time Jim was done confession to Bones, he wasn't sure if he would still let him have even that sop of comfort. Jim also hoped Bones wouldn't write him off as insane.
"I'll sum it up in one sentence, the family motto: the mission is what matters. I've lived with that all my life, knowing that someday the mission would take away everything I ever loved, the way it did my parents, if it didn't kill me first." Jim liked the way Bones was stroking his thumb across the back of his hand. He'd felt starved for this for so long, he was going to soak up as much of it as he could while he could.
"Jesus, kid. It's not like you were born into Starfleet." Bones tightened his grip on Jim's hand in sympathy.
"Not Starfleet. No, if it was just Starfleet, I could have resisted Pike when he attempted to recruit me in Riverside." Jim looked down at their linked hands, knowing that he was on very shaky ground from this point out. "Have you ever heard of Section 31?"
Bones scoffed. "That's a myth. Boogie men in black to scare cadets and midshipmen into behaving themselves until they get their space legs under them."
Jim shook his head. "No, it's not. What I'm going to tell you is so secure, even the people who think they know what Section 31 is, don't know what it is. Everyone thinks it's all cloak and dagger, espionage and counter-espionage. It's not." He took a deep breath.
"Section 31 is a cover for what was once known as the Watcher's Council. And to understand the Watcher's Council, you're going to have to take a hell of a lot on faith that what I am about to tell you is the truth."
"Never heard of it. But, you've never lied to me, kid--" Bones broke off when Jim shook his head and looked away from him.
"There's so many things I've never told you, Bones. Things I've kept from you, but you have to know I didn't want to." Jim clung to the hand in his even harder, knowing that the next few revelations could mean the end of everything, even their friendship.
Bones scoffed. "Not telling me every little detail of secret missions is not lying to me. I know where I stand in the food chain and I'm happy with my need to know."
"Even if it affects your family, even if it's about Jo?" Jim didn't have to wait long for the fallout of his words. Surprisingly, the hot-tempered doctor didn't explode with ire. Jim's hand started to ache, though, from the pressure being put on it. He found himself yanked closer to the scowling visage that practically growled the next words.
"So help me God, Jim, if you've done anything to my baby girl--" Jim could see Bones' eyes literally change color in front of him, the gold flecks in the hazel practically shooting sparks out at him. If he'd been dry tinder, or a vampire, he would have burst into flame.
"No, it's not what anyone alive has done to her." Jim tugged on his hand, which Bones released reluctantly. "I need to show you something. And don't wig out on me when you see it."
Jim got up from the sofa and walked over to the bookshelf behind his desk. Unlocking the one locked window casement, he withdrew a hand-tooled leather-bound book. He placed it on the coffee table in front of Bones.
"Are you shittin' me?" Bones looked at the book and then away, his lip curled in disgust. "Fairy tales, Jim?"
Jim sat down next to Bones and looked at the book. The single word sprawled across the ornate cover in fancy Gothic letters--VAMPYRE.
"Jo is what we call a Potential, one who I believe will be Chosen." He smoothed his hand over the leather, releasing the clasp on the binding and opening it up to the first page and started to read.
"Into every generation she is born: one girl in all the world, a Chosen One. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer."
Part 2
Author: sail_aweigh
Artist: votaku
Mixer: vengefuldemon69
Betas: thistlerose, lindmere
Series: AOS
Characters/Pairings: Kirk/McCoy, Uhura/Spock, Spike/Surprise Guest, Khan, Marla McGivers, Joanna McCoy
Warnings: beheadings and gore, swearing, minor character death
Rating: R for violence and language
Word Count: ~39,000
Summary: STXI/Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series fusion. Jim has kept one part of his life a complete secret from his best friend Bones, but now it appears the bizarre occurrences happening to Joanna McCoy may force him to reveal things to Bones that will either sunder their friendship forever or bring them closer together than either had ever expected. Can Bones trust Jim with Joanna's life, when he's been lied to by his best friend about his very nature?
2264.19
Dear Dad,
Thank you and Uncle Jim for the cool prezzies! I know I should have written sooner, I'm sorry. There's just been so much going on with the new semester. Tresa--that's Tresabel McClay, you remember her, she fell out of the pear tree in the back yard at my sixth birthday party--broke up with Jonathan and Brad started hitting on her during PE. Jonathan got all the other kids to gang up on Brad during dodge ball. The doctors don't think Brad will lose his eye, but he'll have to wear a patch for a while to keep it from getting further damage. The pinhead Jonathan got expelled and he deserved it. And, you're not going to like this, but I kinda got suspended, too. But I didn't know that would happen! Honestly! All I did was sock him on the shoulder. I didn't think I'd bruise him, much less dislocate a joint. Mom says I have to do some community service. I choose to do it at the children's hospital. I can't imagine being stuck in there for the holidays; maybe I can cheer them up some.
I still don't understand it, though. I didn't mean to hurt him. Much.
I miss you, Dad. It was nice having you and Uncle Jim on Earth between missions last year. I promise to write more often this time. For reals.
Love,
Jo
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"Ow! Dammit, Jim! I think you broke my tibia." From his position flat on his back on the gym mat, Bones pulled his knee up to his chest and felt gently along his left shin, wincing as he pressed a little too hard against the sore limb as he evaluated the injury.
Jim knelt down by Bones' side, his face drawn into a look of concern. "I don't know how, Bones; it was just a simple leg sweep. That's never happened to anyone I've sparred with before." He watched without touching, struggling to keep his hands to himself. Jim itched to take the injured leg in his hands and soothe the ache with a little bit of a healing charm, but he knew that any attempt on his part to do that would be looked at with incomprehension and doubt, possibly even the fear that had led to witch hunts in less enlightened times.
Bones completed his examination and straightened the leg with a grunt. "Not broken. You just bruised the hell out of it. Next time, I'm wearing shin pads. Hell, just get me that outfit a baseball catcher wears, that should be enough padding. I'm too damn old for this shit, Jim." He rolled over on his side, then onto his hands and knees where he used his good leg to push himself upright. Jim took the extremely brief opportunity to admire the fine backside that was presented to him as he did.
"Sorry, old man, this is going to keep happening fairly regularly. Well, not the breaking your leg part, but the sparring part. You know the regs: semi-annual physical fitness test, mandatory training, blah, blah, blah. Besides, it doesn't hurt to be prepared for someone losing it from space madness in Sickbay, now does it?" Jim grinned at Bones and, under the guise of patting him on the back, clasped the back of his neck, sending a quick surge of healing energy into his friend. Jim let his hand linger just a second or two against the warm skin of Bones' neck before dropping it to his side. It wasn't something he could afford to do often onboard ship; there was less of an energy reservoir to draw from in the inert metals that comprised the hull and inner workings of the ship, which left him relying on his personal energy stores, unlike the massive life potential of an entire planet.
Bones rolled his eyes. "Fat lot of good training does me when it causes me more injuries than I'll ever inflict on someone else."
"Yeah, yeah, you're a lover, not a fighter." Jim looked off to one side and grimaced at the spectacularly stupid words that had just come out of his mouth.
"C'mon, Jim, you aren't still peeved about that, are you? Is that why I'm limping out of here on one good leg? Maybe you meant to do this?" Bones turned and poked a finger into Jim's chest.
Jim threw his hands up and backed away. "Hey, hey, no. I am not angry, I never was. Janice and I called it quits amicably. You had every right to take your best shot." Jim didn't say that he wished that best shot would be with him. Instead, he had to worry about Janice Rand and her Medusa-locks snaring the man of his dreams. Hell, Jim had been snared for a while, even knowing he wanted someone else. "Besides, after Teddy, I wasn't sure for a while that you'd ever decide to date again. I'm happy for you." The lie sat heavy in his mouth, but he had to convince Bones to drop the subject before he let his jealousy get the better of him and gave himself away.
.
The truth was, Jim had been in love with Bones for longer than he was even willing to admit to himself. He'd watched Bones date a lot of people over the past nine years, starting with Nancy Oglethorpe during their years at the Academy. Love hadn't been on Jim's agenda at the time, but somehow the people Bones dated disturbed him. He refused at the time to admit that it was jealousy. Not that he'd realized it back then, but now that he knew what it was and what he wanted he felt like a six-year-old with his nose pressed up against the glass wondering how much the puppy in window cost. At least back then, Roger Crater had solved the Nancy Oglethorpe problem for him. Now, he had to sit on his hands and do something he really didn't believe in--pray.
"Thanks, Jim. Janice is something...that could be special. I wouldn't want this new relationship to get in the way of our friendship." Bones snagged Jim's elbow and turned him towards the door. "C'mon, kid, let's go get some dinner. I figure you can make it up to me by eating your salad without any complaints about rabbit food for once. Besides, I gotta tell you about Jo's latest letter."
Jim grinned at the sound of the teen's name. "What's she been up to this time? Covering the boys’ locker room door in pink toilet paper after the boys’ cross country team lost to the girls was pretty inspired. Reminds me of the time Gary and I--"
"Jim, the last thing I want is Jo taking after your high school record in any way, shape or form." Bones squinted one eye at Jim in suspicion, as if he knew his friend had conspired with Jo long distance to pull off that particular prank. Her latest infraction seemed to be more well-intentioned, if somewhat less well-implemented, but the end results were still in the negative column.
Jim waved one hand in dismissal of Bones' complaint. "Bones, no one will ever achieve my record, again. I had more days suspended than they ever saw or ever will see at Riverside High and still held a 4.0 average. It's just high spirits. Didn't you get up to anything a little reprehensible back then? I seem to remember a few stories of whipped cream in the nurses’ surgical clogs at Emory and tying big toes to the door of the on-call suite so some poor schmuck would find himself pulled half out of bed when anyone came in to crash? Pot, meet kettle."
Bones ducked his head and forced a scowl when a grin threatened to come through, remembering some fun times. "Yeah, but none of those actually ever hurt anyone."
Jim stopped in the middle of the passageway. "Wait. What? Jo wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Not on purpose, no." Bones scrubbed both hands over his hair, mussing it up and then smoothing it down again. It left a few cowlicks standing that Jim itched to straighten out for him. Bones shook his head. "Her last letter, I don't know. I'll let you read it, I usually do anyway, but this one--there's just something off about it."
Jim put one hand on Bones' shoulder and turned him to face him. "Jo would never purposefully hurt anyone. Well, not with forethought, anyway. She might punch Jimmy Sudowski in the nose again for calling Mrs. McLennan fat, but that would be in the heat of the moment and she's, well, she's a girl. How much damage can she do?" And that was one area Jim was going to keep his mouth shut on; he knew all too well just how much damage females could do. His mother had taken him on more than one hunt, tucked away in safe corners where he had learned to be very, very quiet. He'd quit being quiet when he was twelve and his mother left him Earthside for the first time on that mission to Tarsus.
"She dislocated a kid's shoulder, Jim! That's pretty serious. I'm worried maybe she's hanging out with the wrong crowd, gotten herself into something she doesn't understand." Bones crossed his arms, hugging himself like he could hold onto his little girl and keep her from getting into more trouble. Jim was touched by the gesture, despite the cold chill that trickled down his spine. He needed to see that letter. And then he needed to call Chris Pike and find out which Slayer was down. He could be wrong and he sure as hell hoped so, he didn't want to see Jo become the isolated, emotionally distant killing-machine that most Slayers turned into; Jo was too kind-hearted, too compassionate to embrace that lifestyle willingly.
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2264.27
Dear Dad,
Don't ever let me dye my hair blond. Seriously. I had a really weird dream last night, where I was running through a cemetery chasing someone with a pointy stick. How stupid is that? What good is a stick? Even stupider is that when I stuck it into this guy's back in my dream he disappeared in a cloud of dust! Geez, why didn't I just use a phaser? Must have been the blond hair I had in the dream. Tell Uncle Jim his Clairol is safe from me!
The children's hospital is both fun and sad. I get to play all kinds of games with them and they are a bunch of sharks! I got totally taken in Candyland by a five-year-old. And it's really sad, because in just the last week I came in and found an empty bed. Ryan was allergic to the kidney pills and they couldn't get him a new one in time. It's just not fair that everyone can't have the benefits of all our medical knowledge, Daddy. Please don't let anything like that happen to Uncle Jim. 'Kay?
Love,
Jo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Damnit, Jim! What the hell good did you think it would do to stick that thing with a letter opener?" Bones fumed as he spritzed Jim's arm with disinfectant before snatching up a dermal regenerator to run it over the scratches in his forearm. Jim flinched at the sting.
"It wasn't a letter opener, Bones, it was a silver poignard. I couldn't reach my phaser and the knife was right there in my boot. I stabbed it, it died, end of story." Well, as much of the story as he was willing to divulge. Jim couldn't tell Bones that the only thing that would kill a Fyarl demon was silver, so he had to "lose" his phaser in order to use what could kill it.
"About as useful as teats on a boar hog, if you ask me. You and Jo should compare notes sometime." Bones ran the regen unit over Jim's arm one last time, before spritzing the arm with a final coating of disinfectant. He turned to the tray of sterile dressings and picked one up to lay over the newly healed skin. "Keep that covered for another day, you should be fine."
Jim pulled his tattered shirt sleeve down over the bandage. "Will do. What's that about Jo, though? Did she get in trouble in school again?"
Bones chuckled slightly, his head shaking in negation. "No, she related some crazy dream she had in her last letter. Stabbing people with wooden sticks, even more useless than that toadsticker of yours."
"Wasn't useless at all, was it, though?" Jim jumped down off the biobed and shook his legs out to loosen up.
Bones looked at him, his eyes narrowed in contemplation. "No, it was pretty damn effective. And so was Jo's stick, in her dream."
Jim leaned back against the biobed with his legs crossed at the ankle. He looked down at his boots, the one where his knife was tucked turned prominently towards Bones. "If it gets the job done, that's all that matters, Bones."
"Still think a phaser would have been more efficient. Killing something with pointy weapons just seems so...uncivilized. Like me using a needle and thread to sew you up." Bones put the last of the unused supplies away in a cupboard before turning back toward where Jim was standing. "Didn't impress Jo much either. She would have used a phaser. Jo's right, must be something about blonds."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being blond, I know some awesome blonds." Jim lifted one hand to his mouth and blew on his knuckles, then rubbed them on his shirt.
Bones cocked a finger at him and smirked. "Jo knows about your Clairol, dipshit. It's the only reason either of us gives you the benefit of the doubt."
Jim slumped back with his arms crossed against his chest. "There's not enough sun out here; I wouldn't need the stuff if I could just get to a beach a little more often. Besides, you shouldn't impugn blonds when you're dating one. And your most competent nurse is a gorgeous blond. You wouldn't be caught dead saying anything bad about blonds around Chapel."
Bones looked over his shoulder, back toward the intake area of Sickbay, which was obscured by the curtain pulled around the biobed for privacy. "Shhhh. That woman has ears like a bat; you even mention her name and she appears to destroy my equanimity even worse than you do, Jim."
"Doctor McCoy, I've got Ensign Rosenberg out here with a strange rash." Chapel's voice penetrated the curtain, giving proof to Bones' words. "He claims he got it from working on the anti-matter containment grid, but it looks a lot like he brushed against the Denevian Wormwort in the botany lab. Where all the cool kids go to get their contraband cannabaceae products."
Jim and Bones looked at each other. Bones cocked an eyebrow and jerked his chin in Nurse Chapel's direction. "Case in point right there."
"Now, that is one hell of a buzz kill on that woman. I swear I could leave Chapel in charge and she'd have them more squared away than I could ever hope to. Good thing she never applied for command track or I'd be out of a job. Well, I'll leave you to it, Bones." Jim straightened up and pushed off from the biobed, stopping just momentarily next to Bones. "You going to share Jo's latest letter with me, again? It sounds like another humdinger."
Jim attempted not to fidget while Bones contemplated him silently. "You really get a kick out of her letters. You're not going to turn into some kind of creeper, are you, Jim? I'd hate to have to accidentally inject you with a libido suppressant during your next round of inoculations."
Jim got an appalled look on his face, then looked down at his feet. "Oh, hell, no. She just, okay, you never knew my mother, but she kinda reminds me of her. It's hard to explain." He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and looked up at Bones from under his eyebrows. Jim knew it made him look a lot more boyish and vulnerable, and sure thing, Bones turned a little red at the semi-flirtatious glance. He didn't like to use it, but even Bones wasn't immune to it and he needed to see those letters. Pike had said none of the active Slayers had been reported missing and until there was a confirmed loss in the ranks, he wasn't assigning a Watcher to Joanna; there had to be some other explanation. Jim was convinced that Jo had been Chosen and that the letters would prove it.
"Well, sure, kid. If it means that much to you. I know you and Jo get along well. You know, you can even write her yourself, if you want. I don't mind. And I'll tell her to add your comm address to her letters so you don't have to ask to read them each time."
Jim clasped Bones by the shoulders and gave him a big grin. "Thanks, Bones. That means more to me than you'll ever know." Jim pulled the curtain around the biobed back to leave. Before he was able to get more than a couple steps away he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned back to Bones, who had a soft look on his face.
"Jim, I don't want you to think I think you're some kind of perv, not really. I guess I take it for granted sometimes that everyone has family that cares and keeps in contact with each other. Seriously, if you want to consider Joanna part of your family, that makes me very happy." Bones' eyes looked straight at him, sincere and frank. It was all Jim could do not to lean in and kiss him in gratitude, but he restrained himself to just a smile and a squeeze of the elbow.
"We're all one big family up here, but, yeah, it means a lot that you're willing to share Jo with me. Now, I've got to go change my shirt and get back to the bridge, duty calls." Jim turned away and nearly scurried out of Sickbay, a heaviness in his heart at the way he'd manipulated his friend. It wasn't like he didn't honestly like Jo and have her welfare at heart, but he couldn't tell his friend the truth and it was like acid in his veins. Family, the one thing that he could always count on to hurt him and he was betraying it with every word out of his mouth.
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2264.33
Dear Dad (and Uncle Jim),
Is getting better eyesight part of going through puberty? I don't care about the boobs and stuff, I kinda don't wish they'd happen. I mean, look at Tresa and Jonathan. He got back into school because his dad paid off the principal and half the Board of Education and what did Tresa do? She took him back! Probably because he's the one boy taller than her that doesn't squeak like a chipmunk. The only reason I know, though, is because I saw them. Which surprised me. Not that they were making out, but that I could see them. They were behind the bleachers out by the football field and I was over by the field house on the other side of the 50-yard line. Can one have, like, telescopic vision? Kinda cool, but it's a little freaky. Why now?
Uncle Jim, your record at skeet shooting is going down the next time you're on shore leave here!
Love,
Jo
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Fuck! Jim stopped in his tracks, ducking behind the wide fronds of one of the palm-like plants that lined the sides of the path. Up ahead of him, Bones and Teddy Meers, were locked in a stare down. They were standing much closer than required for casual conversation, their shirts blended into a larger blur of blue with the stripes on their sleeves making them look like a bizarre combination of lieutenant commander and lieutenant. The stellar cartographer had one hand on Bones' arm, but Bones didn't seem to be shaking him off. They looked completely wrapped up in one another and Jim debated whether it would be wise to interrupt or let them complete their discourse before joining them. The sound of his name drew his attention back to the couple and sealed his decision; he kept his place, tucked away from view.
"I thought when you dumped me, that I'd be hearing you were dating Jim Kirk." Teddy sounded incredulous.
Bones' eyebrows twitched, one rising only slightly before settling back down; Jim realized this wasn't a major surprise to Bones. "You thought wrong, Teddy. I told you more times than I can remember that Jim and I are very good friends, best friends, but we aren't like that."
Teddy slashed one hand through the air. "You could have fooled me. The way you talk about him constantly, it's like he’s an obsession for you."
Jim didn't need to see Bones to know his eyes were bouncing from one side of his head to the other like the steel ball bearings in an antique pinball machine. "What part of ‘best friend’ don't you understand?"
Teddy pushed Bones' arm away from him. "Maybe I wanted you to be my best friend, not just my lover, Len! Did you ever consider that?"
Bones crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "It takes time, Teddy. We might have got there if you hadn't been so damn jealous."
Teddy reached out with both hands and smoothed them up Bones' arms to his shoulders. "Who's to say we still couldn't get there? I still think about you all the time. I miss you, Len."
"Sorry, but that ship sailed without you. Janice and I have something good going; I'm not about to throw that away when it's obvious my friendship with Jim still bothers you." Bones shrugged Teddy's hand off his shoulders, taking a step back.
Teddy grimaced. "You couldn't even choose your girlfriend for yourself? You had to take Kirk's leftovers?"
"Fuck you, Teddy. I'm starting to see I didn't know you nearly as well as I thought. You ever say something like that about Janice again, I'll put you down like a dog." Bones' hands were clenched into fists held close to his side, surprising Jim that he hadn't just decked the crude ass for what he'd said. Well, maybe that was more something Jim would do; Bones would just conveniently "lose" the officer's inoculation record so that he'd have to take them two--maybe three--times more often than required. Bones, being the sneaky bastard that he was, would give the chosen officer placebo injections--many, many injections. Jim rubbed his neck at the phantom pain left over from the last time that had been pulled on him.
"I'm not the one who heels when Jim Kirk calls. You go back to your master and beg for more scraps." Teddy sneered, but then stumbled back in shock when one of those fists finally came up from Bones' side and crashed right into his jaw. Jim nearly applauded, but held his silence watching the scene play out.
"Don't come near me, I want nothing to do with you ever again. I recommend if you need medical attention you wait until beta shift to visit Sickbay, when I’m off duty." Bones made an abrupt about face that had Jim scrambling further back into the scavvy looking for more cover.
Shit, shit, shit, he should have interrupted. He'd learned more than he'd bargained for and much of it didn't make him very happy. Bones was his best friend, going on close to ten years. Jim had hoped that maybe Bones would start to see him as more than a friend someday, but that had been firmly shot down by his own words just now. He slumped back against the trunk of a tree, his legs akimbo, arms lax between them.
Jim was startled out of his self pity by a pair of boots that planted themselves in front of his. He placed his elbows on his knees, chin in hands and addressed Bones with a wry grin. "Busted."
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Jim? I don't much appreciate being spied on. Hope you heard something good." Bones stood with his chin sticking out in defiance, his brows drawn down in anger.
"Sorry, Bones. I saw you two talking and it looked intense, so I didn't want to interrupt. I just meant to wait here until you were done so we could walk together." Jim scrubbed his hands through his hair. Christ, he was making some stupid decisions lately. Being in love with his best friend sucked.
"Yeah, well, you know what they say about eavesdroppers. Figure you got a good load from Teddy. C'mon, kid, let's take that walk." Jim noticed that Bones looked off to one side, his face a little flushed, before he reached a hand down to help Jim to his feet.
"Actually, how did you know I was here?" Jim gave Bones a sideways glance as they pushed through the underbrush back to the path. "I thought Jo was the one with the freakish eyesight, but maybe that's because she inherited it from you?"
Bones shook his head. "No, dumbass, I saw your back as you veered off the path earlier; the bright gold is kind of eye-catching, ya know. Honestly, I'm glad you didn't interrupt; I found out more about Teddy Meers in those last couple minutes than I did in the nine months we were going out. I can't believe I fell for that." Jim didn't like the look on Bones' face, the way his mouth turned down in disappointment and regret.
"Hey, he hid it well. I never figured him for such an uptight asshole. And I didn't realize you had to put up with so much jealous bullshit from him either. I would have made myself a lot more scarce if I'd had any clue." Jim wanted to sling an arm over Bones' shoulders, but the urge to pull him into his chest for more made him refrain. He'd had no problem being handsy with Bones until he'd discovered that every time he touched him he wanted more, and Bones didn't. So, he'd stopped. Well, as much as he was able to. The backslaps and a few occasional touches to the forearm and shoulder were all he'd allow himself these days.
Bones snorted. "I spent as much time with you as I wanted to, so don't you go blaming yourself for anything. Damn martyr complex you have."
Jim allowed himself one of those brief touches to Bones' arm. "You know, if you and Janice need more time with each other, don't let me--"
"Damnit, Jim. Have you heard one word out of my mouth in the last five minutes?" Bones stopped and turned towards Jim, looking him directly in the eye. "I have no problem saying 'no' to you. I have my time divided up exactly as I want it, no more, no less. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, yeah, I do." Jim teetered on the brink of delight that he got so much of Bones' time and despair at the way he could parcel it out so easily, like Jim was just another task to be coordinated on his schedule. He stretched his mouth into a smile that felt as fake as George Washington's teeth. "Thanks, Bones. I better get going; I was supposed to help Spock draw up a roster for the away mission on Manwah IV and I think I'm five minutes late. I don't know if I can handle the Vulcan pointy eyebrow of doom when I get there. If you don't see me in the mess by 1800, stop by my ready room and make sure I'm not bleeding out." Giving Bones one last slap on the back, Jim turned around and hustled back toward the entrance to the botany lab, cursing his heart the whole way.
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2264.37
Dear Dad and Uncle Jim,
We were studying the destruction of Vulcan in history this week and I had a really odd feeling of deja vu. Or deja dream, or something. Are lightning storms in space common? I never heard of one until yesterday, yet last week I had a dream about one. It was kind of freaky, because it looked like the same blond girl in my dream a couple of weeks ago. And this time, she had to jump into the middle of this rift in the sky that was full of lightning. I don't know what a black hole looks like, but it looked painful, Daddy. And I could hear a voice in my head whispering, "Summer's blood, it has to have summer's blood."
I wish I knew who or what summer's blood was. Is that the girl's name? Did she have to jump during the summer? What's so special about the blood? God, these dreams freak me out! I haven't slept well in months, and I can't concentrate in school. I wish it would all just stop.
I'm sorry, Dad, I'm being a real Debbie Downer. Tell me what you and Uncle Jim have been up to lately? Have you finally learned how to do a competent leg sweep? Next time you guys have shore leave on Earth, I want to try some of the things I've seen in my dreams with you two. I don't know if they would work or not, but Jim at least would know.
More later, I've got a report to write for Miss Flutie's civics class before bed.
Love,
Jo
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Jim came awake slowly, the soft beep of the biobed monitors translated to a discordant buzzing in his ears by the headache just behind his eyes. He tried to sit up, but his stomach muscles protested in a way that told him he'd had a heavy dose of regeneration directed at the offending area. Curious, he lifted his covers and looked at the sterile dressing covering most of his lower abdomen. Oh, yeah. Manwah IV.
"Fucking Summers' blood," he mumbled, before dropping the covers and letting his head fall back on the pillow. His mouth was parched and he really, really wanted a drink of water right about then.
A startled grunt and a clatter of plastic came from Jim's left. He rolled his head to the side, taking in the sight of Bones looking between Jim and the PADD he'd just dropped.
"Hey, Bones. Would kill for a glass of water about now." Jim cracked a small grin and licked his lips; it didn't help.
"Sure, kid, I think we can do that." Bones walked over to the table by the side of Jim's bed, picking up a pitcher of water and pouring a glass half full. He stuck a straw in it before turning and holding it in front of Jim's mouth. Jim lipped gratefully at the straw, sucking down a good mouthful of water. Jim glanced up and noticed the way Bones' eyes watched his mouth as he sucked at the straw; he even thought he detected a slight flush across his cheekbones. It made his heart beat a little heavier in his chest at the thought that maybe, just maybe, Bones was a little more attracted to him than he let on. The slight increase in the tempo of the biobed monitors drew Bones' eyes away from Jim's mouth, but he didn't indicate that there was anything unusual or suspicious about the change.
"Thanks, man. My mouth was dry as a desert." Jim relaxed back into the pillows behind him. "Where's the control on this thing? I want to sit up a little, but I don't think my abs are in any shape to try that on my own for a while."
Bones dug around in his scrubs pocket and pulled out a little remote that he handed to Jim. A couple of mistaken buttons later, Jim finally had the head of his bed propped where he wanted it to look around his cubicle and the rest of Sickbay.
"Did G'lyx'el and Suskind make it back to the ship in one piece?" Jim took another worried glance around at the other cubicles, hoping the lack of the two members of his security team meant his ploy had been successful.
"G'lyx'el had to sit under a regen unit for a couple of minutes--strained a tendon in her ankle--but they're both just fine. Hell of a lot better than you, Jim." Bones turned from where he had been standing at the side of his bed, moving back to the counter where he had dropped his PADD earlier at Jim's waking.
Jim smoothed his hands over his stomach. He was looking forward to getting back to his own quarters as soon as possible. There were meditations he could do to encourage healing at a deeper level than Bones' equipment could provide. The sacrifice had required blood, quite a bit of blood, before the Manwahri were satisfied that the Federation had their best interests at heart. Even without some sort of mystical convergence, it seemed nothing but Summers' blood would be adequate. Sometimes, he fucking hated his great-whatever-grandfather Colin Finn for marrying a descendant of the Key. Lost in his ruminations, Jim was startled when Bones dropped his PADD in his lap. He looked up at him in surprise, his eyebrows--for once--doing the hairline acrobatics one was accustomed to seeing from the doctor.
"What's this? Is there something besides the condition of the security team I need to be made aware of?" Jim picked up the PADD and his eyebrows took a steep dive from curiosity to concern. "What's wrong? Is Jo in trouble again? Did someone--" His frantic questioning was cut off by Bones' finger as it pointed to a particular line of text in the latest comm.
"Care to explain this?" Bones tapped at the screen again. "You said, and I'll quote, 'Fucking summer’s blood'. Jim, this comm came while you were being held by the Manwahri, so I know you didn't see this earlier. What does it mean?"
Jim thought frantically. He didn't have a good explanation; meaning, he didn't have a scientific explanation that Bones would find acceptable. His chest clenched in denial at what he knew he should do. And he couldn't do it, not to his best friend. That kind of memory spell was a horrible violation of a person's integrity. He looked down at the PADD in his hands and back up at Bones, thinking as fast as he could. Could he fall back on something simple, like a plain old lie?
"It was something the Manwahri said to me; it appeared to be a metaphor. The sacrifice required 'summer's blood.' In case you didn't notice, I was the only blond on the away team. They equate blond hair with their summer season. Not surprisingly, most Terrans do, too. The fact it turned up in Jo's last comm is sheer coincidence. Unless your family is clairvoyant? Something you want to come clean on?" Jim handed the PADD back to Bones and leaned back against his pillow with his hands tucked behind his head, trying to make his body language as open as possible.
Bones grunted, but didn't look pacified. Instead, he scrolled through the comm to another passage and pointed this one out to Jim with a stabbing finger. "What about this? Lightning storms in space have only happened twice that we know of. Why would Jo be dreaming about one that has nothing to do with Nero? I know people can be suggestible, but the coincidences are piling up thick and fast here. Plus, she had that dream before they got to that section in her studies. I'm putting two and two together here and I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say you know something about how it makes four."
Jim stuck one hand out and took the PADD from Bones, reading over the passage. There wasn't a great amount of detail to go by; this could be spun his way. He didn't like the way Bones was standing by the side of his bed, his arms clasped tightly over his chest, shoulders hunched like he was waiting for a blow to fall.
"Bones, you're making a mountain out of a molehill. A lightning storm on Earth and a lightning storm in space are two very different things; there's no reason to believe the two are related. What's the big deal here? Is there something you're not telling me or that you're worried about?" Jim set the PADD down and clasped his hands over it, his head bent towards Bones attentively. He reached a hand out and gestured toward the chair by the side of his bed. "Sit."
Relaxing his tense pose only slightly, Bones took the seat offered. Jim reached out and laid a hand on his back, stroking his thumb across the short hairs on the nape of his neck. "Tell me what's going on in that worst-case-scenario generator you call a brain, Bones."
Bones leaned forward in his chair, planting his elbows on his thighs so his hands could drop between his knees where he wrung them. "I guess I'm just grasping at straws, Jim. I'm really worried that Jo has fallen in with a group of kids experimenting with drugs, particularly hallucinogenics. Her dreams are so bizarre and disjointed from reality. And the sensory overload sounds more like cannabis, but it could be so many different things. She's at that age that’s susceptible to peer pressure and experimentation--if I could find any other explanation for it, I'd jump at it. You understand." His head dropped even lower as he lifted his hands to clasp the back of his neck. Jim's hand dropped away, refusing the urge to grab one of Bones' and never let go.
Jim understood all too well--understood things that he was forbidden to tell his friend, and afraid to tell him, too--and wished he could say as much to Bones. He ached to run his hand over the mussed brown hair, to caress his cheek and give him the comfort of touch. Instead, he gave him the best comfort he could at the moment through his words. "Jo is a remarkably sensible young lady. I don't believe she'd fall for that kind of thing. She's got too much of you in her."
Bones looked up, his mouth quirking up at one corner, even with the slight tremor in it. "Yeah, she is pretty tough. Doesn't take much guff from anyone, not even me or her mother." Jim removed his hand from Bones' back as he finally leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath, some calm returning to his features.
"We've completed this current mission, secured the land for a trading post on Manwah IV. I'll ask Pike if we can pull in for some shore leave soon, get you in to Lunar Space Dock and you can spend some time with Jo. Would that help?" Jim laid a hand on Bones' shoulder, sending a burst of reassurance through the touch and watched Bones' face smooth out and the eyebrows open up across his forehead.
"Yeah, it would, a lot. Thanks, Jim." Bones reached up and scrubbed his hands across his face letting out a sigh.
"Well, I'm not doing it just for you, so don't go giving me the grateful damsel tears. We're due for a Service Period Adjustment on the ship at the end of next month; I've got a plus/minus factor of six weeks on when it has to be done, so we can head that way sooner rather than later." Jim picked up the control to the biobed and started fiddling with it, missing the physical contact with his friend, but knowing he had to restrain himself. Eventually, Bones would clue in to his desires if he didn't leave the man alone.
Bones slapped a hand down on the covers next to Jim's leg. "Don't go ruining your grand gesture, now. Let me maintain my rosy vision of you as a knight in shining armor. I know I don't always come first in your thoughts, but I'm quite happy with where I lie in your affections."
Jim's heart stuttered at the words. If only Bones knew, really knew. Would he still be happy?
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2264.40
Dear Dad,
Mom wants me to go to a therapist. She says my dreams are "a manifestation of your inability to accept separation and an unrealistic fear of space in the guise of death that your father has inculcated in you." Bitch. Sorry! But, honestly, I'm not afraid of space. I've been out to see you on the Enterprise twice and didn't have any problem with the shuttle rides or the transporter. I'm not afraid of space, although I might be afraid of dying. But who wouldn't be? It's the end of everything, it's the end of you as a person. I'm not ready to be ended, yet. And not by some stinking monster that has green skin and red horns coming out of his head. Stupid dreams.
Love,
Jo
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Jim looked at the cards in his hand, then back at the discard pile on the table. Was it worth it to scoop up most of the pile just to get one card? Yes, he'd be able to lay a spread of four cards down, but it would leave him with more in his hand than Bones, who had yet to lay anything. The right discard, though, should achieve exactly what he needed. Making up his mind, Jim scooped up the top six cards of the discard pile, made his run and discarded the two of spades.
"Why, thank you, Jim. You couldn't have discarded better than if you were reading my mind." Bones picked up the two, threw out an eight of hearts and then laid his whole hand out in two runs and a book of four. "Rummy." He picked up the PADD next to him and typed in his score.
"Tcha. Negative fifty-five." Jim threw his cards on the table in disgust. "What does that give you? Are you going to go out before we've even been playing an hour? C'mon, Bones!"
Bones looked at Jim over the rim of the glass he'd picked up, his smirk hidden by the bourbon that mostly filled it. "Whining does not become a starship captain. We've been playing two hours, infant, and I've only got three hundred and forty-five points. It'll be a while before either of us hits five hundred."
Damn, Jim had thrown as many hands as he safely could without Bones suspecting anything. He'd left a message with Spike to comm him at 2230 ship's time, believing that he had the night to himself and wouldn't be interrupted during the call. Only Bones had shown up at his door a little after he'd come back to his quarters from dinner and a chat with Spock about the upcoming visit to Deep Space Six.
"Okey-doke, then. Guess I'm going to have to meld like a badass this time around." Jim scooped all the cards together and started shuffling.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you had a date tonight, Jim. You've been wiggling in your chair like you got ants in your pants." Bones watched as Jim dealt out the cards, ten each, then gathered his cards up. He fanned them and started placing them in order.
Jim leaned back in his chair, a little chagrined that Bones seemed to have tuned in to his underlying anxiety. Bending his head to hide the slight flush he could feel starting, he picked up his own cards to do likewise. "Nah, no other plans. Although, since you brought it up, I thought you were having dinner with Janice tonight?"
Two spots of color bloomed on Bones' cheeks. Jim was surprised that Bones would be embarrassed to admit he had a date; he'd been dating Janice for four weeks now. Did he think Jim was still pining over her?
Bones laid his cards face down with a sigh and picked up his drink, swirling the liquid around in the bottom of the glass. "We did, Jim. And during dinner we decided that it just wasn't quite working the way either of us thought it would. I have a great deal of affection and admiration for Janice; she’s a remarkable woman. I mean, she puts up with you on a daily basis and doesn't run screaming." He looked up at Jim with one corner of his mouth quirked up. "Anyone who can stomach that much unadulterated Jim Kirk is something all right in my book. But, well, I think what I liked most about her was that she isn't wowed by you."
Jim's head tipped back in surprise. "Plenty of people aren't wowed by me! Besides Janice, that is. Spock isn't wowed by me, or Uhura. You've seen how often I come back beaten and bloody; that's a hell of a lot of people who aren't wowed by me."
"Maybe not when they first meet you, but once they've known you for a while, they all fall under your spell." Bones grimaced and raised his glass to his lips to take a swig, hiding his disgruntlement behind the act of drinking. "Spock falls in behind you like a wingman slotting into formation, Uhura quit rolling her eyes when she called you captain about six months into our first tour. Look at how many treaties you've secured because of those beatings you take. People look up to you. It's hard not to."
Jim reached a hand across the table, palm up in entreaty. "Bones, that's just being a good leader. I am a good leader. You sound almost like you're jealous."
Bones shook his head. "Not of your leadership ability. I know I'm good at what I do and my people look up to me pretty much the same way."
"Then what is it?" Throwing out his arms in exasperation, Jim rocked back in his chair, the front feet coming off the floor and then thumping back down.
Bones slammed a hand down on the table. "They want you, Jim. They want you, I want you, we all want you and none of us can have you. Is that enough for your ego?" His face flushed red and then paled at what he had revealed. Jim could only stare, frozen in place by the spanner thrown into his smoothly running emotional cogs. They started up again, when he realized that Bones was admitting what he'd always wanted to hear: that Bones wanted him as much as he wanted Bones. Jim stood up, his chair crashing to the ground as he rushed over to the other side of the table.
Jim pushed Bones' chair away from the table, boxing him in with his hands on the chair arms. "Do you mean that?" He looked into Bones' eyes. When those eyes tried to slide away from him, he grabbed Bones' chin in one hand and tugged it back towards him.
"Please, Bones, you don't know--God, you have no idea how much I've wanted to hear something like that. Years, man, for years." Giving in to a long-standing urge, Jim brushed his knuckles against the side of Bones' face, his stubble a rough caress against the back of his fingers, before cupping one cheek with his palm. "Please, look at me."
"Years, Jim?" Bones looked directly at him, the pinched-in eyebrows loosening up to a more hopeful arch. One hand rose slowly to cover the one on his cheek. "I never would have guessed. Ever. You seem so driven, so single-minded. And that drive doesn't seem to include a permanent partner of any kind. You're so goal-oriented: one mission after the other"
Jim turned his hand to grasp Bones' and tugged him up out of his chair. Pulling him over to the love seat in the conversation area, he pushed Bones to sit on one side while he took a position facing him on the other side. He didn't let go of the hand he held, though. He had waited so long to be able to do something so simple, and by the time Jim was done confession to Bones, he wasn't sure if he would still let him have even that sop of comfort. Jim also hoped Bones wouldn't write him off as insane.
"I'll sum it up in one sentence, the family motto: the mission is what matters. I've lived with that all my life, knowing that someday the mission would take away everything I ever loved, the way it did my parents, if it didn't kill me first." Jim liked the way Bones was stroking his thumb across the back of his hand. He'd felt starved for this for so long, he was going to soak up as much of it as he could while he could.
"Jesus, kid. It's not like you were born into Starfleet." Bones tightened his grip on Jim's hand in sympathy.
"Not Starfleet. No, if it was just Starfleet, I could have resisted Pike when he attempted to recruit me in Riverside." Jim looked down at their linked hands, knowing that he was on very shaky ground from this point out. "Have you ever heard of Section 31?"
Bones scoffed. "That's a myth. Boogie men in black to scare cadets and midshipmen into behaving themselves until they get their space legs under them."
Jim shook his head. "No, it's not. What I'm going to tell you is so secure, even the people who think they know what Section 31 is, don't know what it is. Everyone thinks it's all cloak and dagger, espionage and counter-espionage. It's not." He took a deep breath.
"Section 31 is a cover for what was once known as the Watcher's Council. And to understand the Watcher's Council, you're going to have to take a hell of a lot on faith that what I am about to tell you is the truth."
"Never heard of it. But, you've never lied to me, kid--" Bones broke off when Jim shook his head and looked away from him.
"There's so many things I've never told you, Bones. Things I've kept from you, but you have to know I didn't want to." Jim clung to the hand in his even harder, knowing that the next few revelations could mean the end of everything, even their friendship.
Bones scoffed. "Not telling me every little detail of secret missions is not lying to me. I know where I stand in the food chain and I'm happy with my need to know."
"Even if it affects your family, even if it's about Jo?" Jim didn't have to wait long for the fallout of his words. Surprisingly, the hot-tempered doctor didn't explode with ire. Jim's hand started to ache, though, from the pressure being put on it. He found himself yanked closer to the scowling visage that practically growled the next words.
"So help me God, Jim, if you've done anything to my baby girl--" Jim could see Bones' eyes literally change color in front of him, the gold flecks in the hazel practically shooting sparks out at him. If he'd been dry tinder, or a vampire, he would have burst into flame.
"No, it's not what anyone alive has done to her." Jim tugged on his hand, which Bones released reluctantly. "I need to show you something. And don't wig out on me when you see it."
Jim got up from the sofa and walked over to the bookshelf behind his desk. Unlocking the one locked window casement, he withdrew a hand-tooled leather-bound book. He placed it on the coffee table in front of Bones.
"Are you shittin' me?" Bones looked at the book and then away, his lip curled in disgust. "Fairy tales, Jim?"
Jim sat down next to Bones and looked at the book. The single word sprawled across the ornate cover in fancy Gothic letters--VAMPYRE.
"Jo is what we call a Potential, one who I believe will be Chosen." He smoothed his hand over the leather, releasing the clasp on the binding and opening it up to the first page and started to read.
"Into every generation she is born: one girl in all the world, a Chosen One. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer."
Part 2