elliewood | Fic: Companion, Chapter 25: Bones (7)

I probably should have given Spock more time alone after what I was pretty sure just happened between him and Nyota, but I could feel my own anxiety over Jim's emotional state taking precedence over anything he was feeling at that point. Funny thing was, the way he looked up at me, I got the impression he felt the same way,

"Doctor. Is there some news you wish to impart concerning the captain's status?"

I sat down opposite him. "Yeah. You need to talk to him about the meld."

He nodded and folded his hands as he looked out over the park. He didn't say anything, so I went on. "After you left the room, I filled him on on what he can't remember, everything I could anyway, between the time he fixed the warp core and his waking up here. He took pretty much all of it in stride except for that. For some reason it's really bothering him."

Spock was silent for a few minutes while I fidgeted, impatiently, wondering if I was wrong, if he really was so broken up over Uhura that he couldn't take in anything else. And I admit, I wanted him to tell me what the meld was all about, what went on in between their two heads that brought Jim back from the dead and left Spock passed out on the deck. But he gave me nothing as he finally stood up and turned to me.

"Shall we go?"

And that was that; we headed back to Jim's room together.

We arrived to find Phil Boyce assessing Jim's lower extremity sensation and strength again. At least I presume that was what he was doing. To a layperson, it looked like he was just stroking Jim's legs. Beside me, Spock was as tense as a hound dog trying to shit a peach pit. I admit, I didn't like it much either.

"Gentlemen! Wonderful to see you both." He made a few notations on Jim's chart while he chatted. "I'm pleased, very pleased, and also very surprised at the rapid progress our young captain is making." He turned back to Jim. "Want to try to stand up, son?"

Jim nodded silently and looked, pointedly I thought, at Spock and me. Didn't need to tell us twice. We stepped up to the side of the bed as he swung his legs over by himself, holding up a hand to Phil when he tried to lend his own to help. Looping one arm over my shoulders and the other over Spock's, he slid his ass off the bed and stood between us on his bare feet.

Phil looked at him intently, his head tilted to one side, and made another note on the PADD.

"Now that I'm up, can I go pee in something other than a plastic bottle?"

I grinned and patted him on the chest with my free hand. 'Kid, you can do whatever the hell you want to, as far as I'm concerned. Spock, you all right watching your CO take a whiz?"

Spock nodded, once, and we stepped carefully together toward the rest room. Phil watched until we made it as far as the door.

"Gentlemen, I'm off to continue my rounds. Leonard, you'll note any other developments for me, won't you?" He hung the PADD back on the wall.

"Yeah, sure."

"Good man."

Jim waited until Phil was out of the room to piss in the toilet, one arm wrapped around my shoulders. "Think I could get a shower too?"

"Like I said, whatever the hell you want."

We helped him sit in the shower chair and pulled off his t-shirt and shorts; Spock took them and left to exchange them for fresh clothes while I washed him up. He groaned as I dug my fingers into his scalp to wash his hair.

"God, Bones, that is so fucking awesome."

"You need a haircut," I noted. "Getting kind of shaggy back here." I rinsed him off and toweled his head dry, then started on his legs while he managed to dry his arms and chest. I smiled to see the curls forming on his forehead and the back of his neck as his hair dried; he really did need that haircut.

Spock returned with the change of clothes, got him dressed, and helped him back into bed while I made a few notes on the PADD.

"I'm ordering you a soft solid meal for dinner. Do your best on it and let me know how much of that goes down."

My scrubs were soaked; I needed a change of clothes myself. By the time I came back to the room, showered up and in dry scrubs, Jim was already tucking into the dinner tray, pasta and mashed potatoes and peach cobbler. Spock was next to him, at the ready but not apparently helping him in any way. Boyce was right; the speed of his recovery was remarkable.

After noting his food intake for the evening, I dropped into the recliner, put Nyota's neck pillow in place, and let my eyelids drop like lead weights. If they talked about the meld at all, I didn't hear it; the next thing I knew, it was dark outside, Jim was asleep in the bed, and it was time for me to leave for the night shift.

***

First thing I do when starting a shift is check the intake roster. And there it was: Uhura, Nyota U. Checked into the OB ward earlier that afternoon.

Up I went to the fifth floor and found her, awake in her bed, reading a PADD.

"Nyota, what the hell."

She smiled at me. "You can read my chart. It's okay."

I did, and my heart sank for her. Then I read the results of the embryonic DNA analysis, and it sank even more.

"Darlin', I'm so sorry."

"It's all right," she said, and held out her hand. I took it and sat next to her, stroking her slim fingers and wishing things would be easier for her than it looked like they were going to be.

"What can I do?"

She squeezed my hand. "I have to stay overnight to make sure there's no more bleeding, but then I can leave tomorrow morning. I could use a ride home."

"Sure. My shift ends at 0700 and Jim's physical therapy appointment isn't until 0930, so I can run you home in between."

"Thanks, Leonard. Truly."

I pressed her hand between mine and kissed her cheek. "You'll let me know if there's anything else, won't you?"

"You bet, honey," she answered, her dark eyes liquid.

I spent the rest of that shift in a kind of trance, my hands working to help countless, faceless patients while my mind dwelled alternately on Jim and Nyota, on how much of their private hells I would ever know about, on how much Spock would ever know, and I realized that, of the two of us, he was more in the dark than I.

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