StarTrek: Equilibrium
Bones looked up from his tricorder as the doors to sickbay whooshed open. Damn, he swore under his breath; the last ion cloud they’d flow through (Jim -the idiot- should know by now they aren’t just like regular water clouds; or at least have the decency to warn the ship before sailing straight through to brace for impact instead of a sheepish yet stern apology after) had jolted the ship and although it hadn’t been severe enough to knock him off his feet, any number of crew members could have been seriously injured.
Then he saw it was the calm features of Spock striding through the door and cursed again louder, causing the Vulcan to quirk an eyebrow at him. The damn pointy-eared fiend had an anatomy that would cause an hour dead heart to have palpitations. It wasn’t bad enough he was Alien but specifically half Alien that left every case of the hiccups a new medical mystery for yours truly to untangle. With only the barest hints of discomfort let on with minute eyebrow movements and a jumble of logical and precisely chosen words that usually when re arranged meant what Bones could say in about a second…it was lucky he hadn’t just killed Spock to put himself out of his misery.
“Commander,” He fairly growled, desperately hoping that he was just making sure no one had been severely hurt to report back to the Captain.
“ Doctor, I hope I haven’t disturbed you,” Spock glanced to where Bones was still clutching his open tricorder. Bones sighed, no, no Jim would have just used the comm to ask if all was sound in Sickbay.
“No, no just a routine equipment check-” -monitoring his own heart rate as he tries to scare himself for fun because he’s bored stiff down in the pit since Jim’s barred him from the bridge for being too much of a backseat captain and distracting him- “ What seems to be the problem?”
“ The ion cloud seems to have upset my equilibrium,” Spock intoned leaving Bones to frown in puzzlement, seeing now how he was clutching the medical bed they were standing beside. He wondered if he’d missed some kind of stumbling entrance and looking back up into the solemn features before him, held in a bark of laughter at the thought of stiff formal ol’ Spock swaying and sloshing down the corridors of the enterprise.
“ Your balance is off and Jim didn’t send you with anyone?” he asked pulling out the scanner from its compartment on his tricorder and punching in Spock’s specific personnel code before lifting it to his head and monitoring his findings intently.
“ I assured him I could still function adequately as to not need an escort.” Spock blinked as Bones snorted, “This is amusing?”
“ In a way,” He glanced up from his tricorder to shoot Spock a small smile, “ It looks like your inner-ear’s just a bit scrambled, rest for a few hours and it should clear up on its own.” He announced snapping his tricorder shut and sliding the scanner back into place.
Tapping the badge on his chest Bones motioned for Spock to hop up on the bed beside them.
“Doctor McCoy to the Bridge, Commander Spock will need to be relieved of duty for the rest of his shift, Captain,” he said clearly and nodded as the order was accepted and the link broken.
“ Don’t move until your dizziness has subsided, then you can go back to your quarters,” Bones shifted intending to go back to his office but noticed that Spock hadn’t moved a muscle, he hadn’t even blinked.
“ Spock? Are you alright?” he began to pull his tricorder open again when the commander’s eyes shifted.
“ I am following your orders Doctor,” Bones stopped abruptly and sighed hard through his nose, gritting his teeth.
“ You can move you fairy-eared-” he paused and glanced at Spock, “ - friend,” he finished awkwardly, “ I just meant don’t leave, don’t do anything strenuous, or start running laps around sickbay or something,” He flapped his arms in exasperation as the Vulcan finally relaxed back into the bed.
“ That would be most illogical, the number of laps required for physical exertion accounting for the size of sickbay would-”
“ Stop! It was an example! Just rest! Take a nap or meditate or plug your batteries in and re-charge or whatever it is you do at night!” Bones huffed as Spock raised one eyebrow again.
“ You are being humorous,” he noted a twinge of amusement edging his statement but not enough to relieve the annoyance Bones constantly felt around him.
“ Yeah, humor,” he muttered shuffling back to his office fully intending to shut himself in and figure out if you could replicate a stiff drink this early, or at all in sickbay.
“ Doctor,” Spock called causing Bones to tense and turn slightly, “ What is a fairy?” He asked his mouth quirked just so that Bones knew he was being intentionally aggravated. With a barely restrained growl he slapped the panel of his office door and sealed himself inside.