![[I saw three ships]](../img/2009icon.png)
"You're hurt again," Nyota says accusingly, watching Jim hobble into Spock's quarters. He's shirtless, his left side covered in bandages and tape, pink skin around the edges showing the obvious effects of a recent treatment by the dermal regenerator . He's wearing only trousers, but they're not his -- they hang loosely from his frame and she knows he prefers his garments closer-fitting. Spock is following closely behind, a hand on the small of Jim's back, offering support. "What did he do this time?" She directs the question to Spock, knowing that Jim will blow it off, not tell her the truth, hide from the seriousness of his injuries. He always does.
"Ah, we cannot blame Jim for his injuries in this instance, Nyota." Spock directs the computer to lock the door behind them as he follows Jim over the threshold and adds a do not disturb notice, which will be displayed on the vidscreen outside. "There was no altercation, but an accident on the planet's surface. There was a demonstration of the culture's most advanced piece of farming equipment, and there was a malfunction in the motor apparatus." He helps Jim steer around a small table and carefully sink into the sofa. The difficulty Jim has in sitting makes Nyota gasp and rush forward to help, even though she is well aware that Spock's strength is sufficient to maneuver Jim without doing added harm.
"How did a malfunctioning motor do this?" The grimace on Jim's face as he settles makes Nyota unconsciously twist her own features in sympathy.
Spock explains in his matter-of-fact way. "The end of a large piston struck Jim's ribs, then ricocheted into Engineer D'Vpli. She was crouched to protect herself, but was hit in the back of the head nonetheless. Only the trajectory saved our captain from being impaled, and the loss of velocity caused by the object striking him saved D'Vpli from massive trauma. She's still being cared for in Sickbay but Doctor McCoy assures that she will make a full recovery."
Despite the positive notes to Spock's report, Nyota sighs. "Well, Jim, you've cheated death again. Another close call." She looks up at Spock. "And where were you when this happened?" You should've been protecting him, you know how things happen on away missions, is the unspoken but clear insinuation in her question.
"I was inside the operator's compartment of the malfunctioning equipment. I believe," his voice softens, takes on a quiet tone of contrition. "I may be responsible, in part, for the malfunction. I encouraged the farmer to demonstrate the full range of the machine's capabilities, and it seems likely that he overestimated its limits, causing the motor's failure." Sitting on the edge of the sofa, he bows his head. "I am sorry, Jim. I take little satisfaction that happenstance prevented your injuries from being more grave. I shall endeavor to do all I can to ease your period of recovery."
"Spock, it's not your fault. The farmer didn't maintain his motor and it threw a rod. It was gonna happen eventually, and I'm glad it was today. The guy has young kids and they work those fields. If that rod had gone while they were working, even a blunt hit woulda killed a kid. That sucker was heavy. If anything, we did the family a favor. Starfleet'll pay for the repairs to his machine now, too." Jim sits back against the pillows with another wince. He turns to Nyota, sees her eyes, wide with concern. "Hey, D'Vpli and I don't even have any cracked bones, just bad bruises. Bones said D'Vpli's brain's fine, and all. It's okay, really. Come on, sit next to me."
Nyota slips onto the sofa carefully, perching on the edge of the seat. "I'm glad it wasn't more serious. But you look like you're in awful pain." She knows that McCoy has just about given up on trying to find a painkiller that won't blow Jim up like a pufferfish or knock him out for hours with a dose that shouldn't even make a small child drowsy. So Jim has to just grit his teeth and bear his wounds with valor, and he tries, she's seen firsthand over the past three years just how hard he tries. "Do you want a drink or anything?"
"No, I want to rest. I want you right here next to me, Nyota," Jim pats the cushion right beside him, "and you too, Spock. I want you two to stop worrying, because I'm going to be fine. We're all going to be fine. You're both going to come right here next to me and relax and you're not going to fuss." He looks back and forth between them. "Do I have to make it an official order? Come on, I'm tired and I need you two to help hold me up because if I fall over, it's gonna hurt like a son of a bitch."
Both move in close, arms carefully woven around him, avoiding his injuries. They chat quietly for a while until Jim falls to sleep, feet up on the coffee table and head lolled to one side, against the back of the sofa.Nyota soon joins him, drawn in by the quiet. Spock rises from the sofa and changes into his off-duty attire, sinking into a deep meditation as his lovers nap together.
The ship's morning begins and the lighting in Spock's quarters slowly brightens. Jim stirs and blinks, trying to sit up but dropping back to the pillow quickly when a spike of pain shoots through him. He's hurt. Again. He groans.Nyota sits up quickly.
"Jim? What is it? What do you need, sweetheart?"
"What? Nothing, I'm just sore as hell." He opens his eyes again and it dawns on him that they're not where they were when he fell asleep. "Did Spock… put us to bed?"
"I carried you, Jim. Nyota walked of her own accord." Spock answers. Jim looks around and finds him at the small table tucked into the corner. Every time Jim looks in that direction, he smiles just a little, just to himself, at the three chairs where there were once just two. They often share breakfast there before the beginning of Alpha Shift.
Alpha Shift. Jim calls to the computer for the time. "The time is 0719."
"Less than an hour before shift, why didn't one of you wake me before now?" Jim grumbles, but when he tries to sit up, he falls back to the pillow again. "It's gonna take me an hour just to get off the damn bed!"
"That's why Doctor McCoy has deemed you unfit for duty today. He believes he can implement a protocol of medication suitable to quell your pain without incapacitating you with allergic reactions, Jim. He has sent a message to you, Yeoman Rand brought your PADD ," he gestures to the device on the beside table. "She also brought suitable garments. You have only duty uniforms in the closet here." Spock rises from the table and comes to hover over Jim and Nyota on the bed. "The doctor will be by shortly to administer the test dosage."
Nyota holds out a hand. "Don't loom over us. It's weird. Sit and talk. Leonard thinks he's cracked the medication problem?"
"Yeah," Jim reads from the comm the doctor sent in the wee hours of the night, bracing himself as Spock sits. He didn't need to. One day he'll figure out how someone with Spock's weight can make so little impact. He reads McCoy's message again. "Huh. He thinks if he mixes the two painkillers that don't knock me out cold, that's the one that puffs me up and the one that gives me hives, with the antihistamine that kills the hives and the swelling but gives me twitchy eye, and some pure caffeine, because that untwitches my eyes and keeps me from getting sleepy from the thing that puffs me up, I'll manage. He's gonna try a half dose." He drops the PADD. "Great, a bunch of needles in the neck."
"It'll be worth it, if you can function, and then he'll know what to do for you in the future, too," Nyota kisses the side of Jim's neck tenderly. "Right, Spock?"
"I agree with Nyota's assessment, Jim. It is something that I would counsel you to try. Your history does show that you are likely to face a need for pain relief following injury at some point in the future." Spock nods, just once. He takes the PADD from Jim, putting it back on the table as he brushes his fingertips across Jim's palm. "I have rescheduled all of Alpha Shift for the bridge, Jim. Nyota can stay with you. Myers will have the conn, barring emergencies. I will check in on the bridge at intervals, but much can be accomplished here, with you both." Fortunately they were scheduled to simply continue to orbit the planet today. A second away team, mostly engineering crew, are still on the surface, led ably by Lt. Commander Scott.
Nyota smiles and reaches over Jim to caress Spock's knee. While he would describe the rescheduling as simply logical, as the alpha bridge crew works best together, she would consider it thoughtful.
"You'll really stick around, as much as you can?" Jim knows Spock can find a million and one things that he "should" be attending to, if he's allowed. "Just for today."
"For today, I shall," Spock promises. A look from Nyota encourages him to bend to press a kiss to her lips, and then one to Jim's. "Today I shall."
Cuddling, carefully, a bit closer to Jim's side, Nyota smiles.
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