Chapter Fifteen

"I'm sure I can manage myself now Bones. I'm not a child." Jim had been in sickbay for the last week and he was bored to death, not to mention stiff. The herbs had eventually all been pulled from his skin, much to his dislike. He would have much rather peeled them off himself in the shower, although Bones insisted he did it. Something about ensuring the allergic reaction hadn't caused anything other than the rash.

The spots were still visible, although they were now scabbing over and fading. Sure he was going to be left with a few scars where he had scratched them, but he could live with that.

"How about the ones on your back?" Bones questioned, while applying the soothing cream onto his back.

Jim did enjoy the soothing and cool feeling, although the thought of his friend doing it and not that hot nurse who was just standing counting the preloaded hypos across the room just made his skin crawl.

It had been an eventful week and he was so ready to leave sickbay.

For the first time ever, Jim had woken up in Sickbay not to be greeted by his friendly family doctor, but instead the chilling emptiness of Sickbay. He had a look around but nothing, just the gentle hum of the ship.

Jim instantly sat up, confused as to what the time was, maybe he had slept through to the middle of the night, which would explain the emptiness after all. Speaking of emptiness, his bladder was certainly not.

As he sat up he felt the gentle tug of his nose cannula pulling him back down.

Well, there isn't a need for this now is there?
Jim thought to himself, as he slowly pulled the tubes away from his face. He despised being tied into place anyway. Luckily for him, no alarms went off on his monitor.

Jim smiled smugly.

See, I didn't need it after all. Silly, over-protective Bones.

He threw back the blankets and swung his legs round, off the biobed, noticing he was still wearing nothing but his boxers and still had those damn itchy purple spots all over him. Although the herbs seemed to have gone.

Thank fuck, those nasty plants have gone.

He thought to himself again, before having a good scratch at his torso. He cocked his head to the side and shut his eyes with the relief just like a dog would.

Oh yeah right. Restroom…

He placed his bare feet onto the sickbay floor and an instant light headed feeling came over him as the blood rushed down to his feet. He hadn't been able to stand in what felt like months.

He gasped at the thought that it could have been enough to set a monitor off. Although his blood pressure had dropped, the monitor stayed silent.

He let out a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was to be caught red-handed by Bones in the middle of the night and have to pee in one of those awful bed bottle things.

Someone must have silenced the alarm.

Having another good scratch on his arm, he shook the light headedness off and rose up to the challenge of letting go of the bed.

He stood, unaided, a little wobbly but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, until he distributed his weight onto both feet.

He let out a yell as the gash on his foot filled with pain. He leant back on the bed instantly picking his foot up and breathed the pain away.

Holy shit. What the fuck did Bones do to me?

He perched himself back on the bed, not noticing the silent alarms going off with his low blood pressure and now rising pain levels.

Okay, so getting to the toilet is going to be difficult... and I really need to go.

He moaned to himself, he was going to have to call for help and he hated having to depend on others more than Romulans at a Klingon party.

"Hello? Bones? Nurse? Anyone?" He called out but nobody came. "Bones!" he called out louder this time, still nothing.

Surely they can't all have left me?

His bladder was now sending him a huge sense of urgency.

Jim pulled himself off the bed again and stood with his bad foot up in the air.

Okay, here goes nothing.

He hopped to the end of the bed, clinging onto it for support. Seeing the bathroom light at the end of the room he set his target in site.

He let go of the bed and managed to stay on one foot quite stably, he had no idea how seeing as he had been seeing stars before.

He hopped over to the next biobed and sighed with relief. He had made it with only minor pain. He managed to hop to the next bed again, every hop causing a little sting and a little more ache in his tired body.

Jim was now on the third bed.

Just two more, just two more. Remind me to tell Bones never to place me away from the bathroom again.

He had finally reached the bathroom door. The light was left on, giving sickbay a gentle glow.

Jim hopped in using whatever he could to steady himself.

He hopped back out after he had relieved himself and noticed doctor McCoy's office light on and the door shut. He had a good few choice words for his doctor.

Is it worth the pain to go and yell at him now? Or shall I wait till morning…

No. It is worth it. He enjoyed ripping those plants off me a bit too much.

Jim took a deep breath in as he hopped across to McCoy's office door. It was slightly open, but not enough for anyone to notice he was there.

He steadied himself on the wall, keeping his foot up still and noticed the familiar sound of Bones' voice talking to a female.

He raised his eyebrows and just listened in.

"Thank you so much Doctor McCoy. Without you, I would have died. The children would have nobody. You truly are a saint. I will be sure to teach the children of your kind and gentle ways. You shall go down in Hummanius history as a legend. You and all your crew." Nurse Harriet said, as she grabbed McCoy's hands.

McCoy smiled at her, moving his hands so they wrapped around hers.

"Call me Leonard and I should be thanking you. You saved our captain. He would have died without your knowledge of those herbs. I will be sure to inform him of your courage. It's a shame you cannot stay. I'm sure I could pull some strings?"

Nurse Harriet lost her smile and looked down at their hands. "I wish I could Leonard. But you know I cannot. I must stay with those children. Tomorrow we reach Starbase 10 and I must leave. But I shall never forget you Doctor Leonard McCoy. I'm sure the children won't either."

McCoy sighed. "Then we make every moment count until then."

He moved in closer to her and passionately kissed her. Their hands never left each other's.

Jim peeked through the door crack to see his friend making out with the alien and gagged.

Cheesiest pick up line ever. I need to give him some pointers.

Jim hopped closer to the door, now using it to balance himself. But he lost his footing on the last hop, slipping and falling face first into McCoy's office. Knocking his, already cut, head once again.

McCoy and Nurse Harriet jumped out of their skin, instantly releasing each other and standing up in shock.

"Goddammit Jim! What are you doing out of bed in the middle of the goddamn night!"

Jim looked up at his friend. "I needed to pee" he slurred.

McCoy placed his hands on his hips. "Now your heads bleeding again fool. You should have called. Harri, can you help me get him up and onto the sofa?"

Nurse Harriet couldn't help but giggle at Jim's clumsiness.

"Of course Leonard."

They both grabbed Jim's arms and wrapped him round their shoulders, allowing him to hop over to McCoy's leather couch.
Bones threw Jim down with annoyance, while Nurse Harriet pulled the coffee table a bit closer and placed Jim's foot on it in a caring fashion.

McCoy ran a tricorder over Jim quickly, seeing his blood pressure and pain levels. "Jim you should have stayed in bed."

He quickly whipped out a hypo full of morphine and pressed it into his neck.

"That will stop the pain."

Jim rubbed his neck where the hypo had pinched. "I'm fine… whoa."

Jim sunk back into the sofa, instantly relaxing his body.

"Why does he say he's fine, when clearly he isn't? It's a most… particular trait." Nurse Harriet questioned as if Jim wasn't even there. She grabbed a light blanket from one of the biobeds outside and placed it over him.

"Tell me about it. He likes to make my job hard." McCoy tutted while Jim looked around the office with a smug look on his face.

"I like this nurse." He slurred again.

"You like everyone. Now keep still. I need to sort your head out." McCoy said while rolling his eyes.

McCoy gently peeled back the bandage and gauze that was keeping Jim's newly healed forehead gash protected. The skin had split back open and the blood was a constant stream.

He grabbed some more gauze and applied pressure.

"That's a lot of blood." Nurse Harriet gasped.

McCoy just shrugged. "It's only a small opening. The human forehead always bleeds a lot. The skin was still thin from the cut he had before. As soon as the bleeding stops, I can close it. It will need a few days to thicken again, but he will be fine."

Nurse Harriet perched on McCoy's coffee table and watched the doctor work. "That's okay then."

Jim winked in a most obvious way to Nurse Harriet, making McCoy roll his eyes again.

"I'm just sorry you had to see our Captain this way. He will be easier to talk to in the morning."

"I'm easy to talk to now Bones!" Jim now winked at McCoy, causing him to move his head away from the pressure Bones was putting.

He grabbed the back of Jim's head and kept him still.

"Stay still you infant. Or do you want blood in your eyes?"

Jim pressed his lips together, lifting his finger up to his lips and shushed himself, causing Nurse Harriet to let out another sweet little giggle.

"Is he always like this?"

McCoy looked under the gauze, checking if the blood had stopped flowing before taking it away.

"A giant pain in the ass or a blubbering idiot?"

Nurse Chapel giggled again, covering her mouth with her hand.

"That's not a nice way to talk about your best friend Leonard."

"Yeah Leonard!" Jim said in a drunken like way.

"It's just the morphine, he has funny reactions to medication. Any normal person would just go to sleep, but Jim has to act like a drunken fool first." McCoy rolled his eyes at Jim. He reached out for his dermal regenerator and started closing Jim's cut for the second time.

"You're so clever Bones." Jim yawned, before letting his head fully relax.

"I know kid. Just go to sleep." McCoy still held the back of Jim's head as he fully relaxed, drifting off to sleep.

He was soon finished and together they moved Jim into a lying position on McCoy's sofa. Nurse Harriet covered him back up and they both sat on the coffee table watching him.

"So much for making every moment count" McCoy sighed.

Nurse Harriet just smiled, before ruffling Jim's hair back like she would to Adam.

"Will he be okay here overnight?"

McCoy smiled at her caring nature and how she was always putting others first. He walked round to his desk's draws and pulled out a wrist monitor, snapping it onto Jim's wrist.

"There. Any concerns and an alarm will go off. Although I doubt there will be. Even without his extra oxygen."

Nurse Harriet smiled back weakly at the doctor. It pained her to leave, but she had to.

"I must return to the children now. I shall see you in the morning for our final goodbyes, I know the children will want to say goodbye too. Good night Leonard." She stood up and kissed McCoy's cheek tenderly with her soft lips. As soon as her back was turned a small tear fell down her cheek.

"Good night Harri" McCoy whispered as she left his office.

Jim woke first peeling his eyes open and was instantly welcomed by a pounding in his skull. He slowly sat up and rubbed his head followed by his eyes. He was still in McCoy's office.

He looked over to Bones leaning uncomfortably in his chair, his chin on his chest as he snored.

Jim just smiled to himself, before realizing that he needed help to get up.

He groaned. He really didn't want to wake up Bones, even if that sleeping position did look uncomfortable.

He noticed Nurse Chapel walk past and waved, grabbing her attention. She smiled sweetly at Jim and helped him back to his biobed where his cold breakfast of porridge and grapefruit was waiting for him.

"Porridge again, Nurse?" he scrunched his nose up.

"Doctor's orders. Eat up or you know how grumpy he will get" Nurse Chapel tucked him back into bed, taking his old nose cannula away.

"When will we arrive at Star base 10?" Jim asked as he pushed the breakfast tray away.

"Oh, well, we arrived at 0600 hours." Nurse Chapel perched on the end of Jim's bed, pushing the tray back towards him.

"What time is it now?" Jim was completely out of sorts and had no way of actually knowing the time in space. He pushed the tray away again.

"1100, sir. That's why your breakfast is so cold, which you really need to try and eat" pushing the tray back towards him with a frown. Jim knew he wasn't going to win this one.

"Why didn't you wake us? Are we still there? I'd like to see Nurse Harriet and the children before they leave." Jim picked up the fork and poked at the grapefruit.

"Perhaps I should let the Commander explain…" Nurse Chapel stood up and commed the bridge for Spock, returning just as Jim took a mouthful of grapefruit.

"He's on his way."

Jim just nodded, letting her get to her rounds. The second she left he spat the grapefruit out onto the plate and pushed the tray away, scrunching his nose up at the taste.

"Put these on" McCoy threw Jim some basic Starfleet issue comforts, a black t-shirt and some grey slacks. "And for god's sake Jim, stop the damn scratching or you'll be in here for at least two more weeks."

Jim said nothing but just followed the doctors' orders. He would finally have some dignity. Shame, his feet had to suffer with the cold and stay bare a bit longer, but he had just had surgery on one of them. The painful throb constantly reminded him of this.

"So when am I getting out of here?"

McCoy picked up the PADD at the end of his bed and began making notes.

"Well, we need at least two more blood draws over 48 hours to check if the poison is completely out your system. Then, there's the spots... The bruises will fade on its own but your nose could do with a few more sessions with the dermal regenerator. Oh and you will need a couple of physiotherapy sessions. We had to cut right down into the muscle so it's weaker than you are used to."

Jim just sat there and huffed. "No time soon then."

McCoy grinned to himself. "And you promised not to complain remember? I'm guessing a couple of weeks max, kid."

Jim just mumbled to himself. "Two weeks too many if you ask me"

He folded his arms and pouted, before scratching his biceps again.

McCoy quickly grabbed his hands and raised them in the air.

"No scratching!"

They were soon interrupted by Spock entering Sickbay and striding over to them.

"Good afternoon Doctor, Captain."

McCoy had to admit, he had lost track of time. He must have really needed to catch up on some sleep, no matter how uncomfortable that damn office chair was. He rubbed the crook in his neck.

"Good afternoon Spock."

"Captain, I believe you asked for an update on Star Base 10 and our passengers" Spock said, placing his hands behind his back.

"An update? He should be resting. He's off duty. No Captain stuff!" McCoy raged.

But Jim quickly interrupted his rant "You should hear this too Bones."

McCoy raised his eyebrow, now he was intrigued.

"We arrived at Star Base 10 at 0600 hours. Lt. Uhura and I accompanied the Nurse and the children to the safety of Admiral Lewis. They are to be relocated on another planet within the week. The medical supplies we required have been placed on board and taken to the lab for storage. We are now on our way to Star Base 5 for minor engineering repairs before our new orders from Starfleet Command arrive. We should arrive in 12.4 days, Captain. This should allow you enough recovery time."

Spock hadn't realised, but giving that report had struck a nerve for Bones.

"They left? Without saying goodbye?" McCoy asked, he couldn't quite believe what he had just heard, even though he knew Vulcans couldn't lie. He hoped in this one case, Spock did.

"Thank you Mr Spock." Jim nodded to Spock as he left Sickbay and returned to the bridge.

"I'm sorry Bones. I know she meant a lot to you" Jim sincerely meant it too, especially as he had messed up their last night together.

Bones put on a brave smile for his friend. "It's okay, kid." He slapped his shoulder, triggering more itching for Jim, although he resisted it with all his might. He could see how upset Bones was. "I think I'm gonna take a shower." He couldn't even look at Jim. He felt numb. He knew the goodbye was coming, but he thought he was going to have a final chance at it.

Doctor McCoy retreated to his office and slumped into his chair. Placing his head in his hands and sighing.

Time to move on I guess.

He looked up through his fingers and something caught his eye, a note left on his desk he didn't notice before. He picked it up.

In the most beautiful handwriting he had seen in a while, was his name.

He slowly opened the letter addressed to him:

Leonard,

I am sorry I wasn't able to say goodbye once more and it brings tears to my eyes that I cannot feel safe in your warm arms again.

I came by your office. However you looked so peaceful I couldn't disturb you.

I am sorry.

I will never forget you Doctor Leonard McCoy.

Wherever we may be in the galaxy, our hearts will always beat as one.

I pray that one day we may embrace in each other's love again.

Look after your friends Leonard. They need their doctor and more importantly their friend.

Goodbye for now,

Harriet

McCoy hugged the letter close to him before carefully folding it and placing it in his office draw. He smiled to himself. He knew he wasn't ever going to forget her.

"Right that's it." McCoy had finished rubbing the last of the cream onto Jim's back and he cleaned his hands at the sink. "You're safe to leave, BUT you must keep that monitor on your wrist. I'm not clearing you for full duty until you've completed your physio too. So that means: your quarters, paper work or eating in the mess hall. Any alarm sounds then I'll be dragging your ass straight back here."

Jim wasn't even listening now, he slipped on a pair of loose trainers that had been issued to him and slowly stood, his foot still throbbing dully in pain from the surgery.

"Don't forget this" Bones handed him an old fashioned crutch to use. "You can't put too much weight on that foot yet."

Jim rolled his eyes.

"Fine."

He took the crutch and used it to hobble out of sickbay towards his quarters where he had already told Scotty to meet him for a celebratory 'released from Sickbay' drink. It was a little tradition they had, that Doctor McCoy didn't need to know about for now.

McCoy rolled his eyes as Jim left and turned to Nurse Chapel, who was standing at his side waiting for his signature on Jim's discharge notes.

"I know for a fact he's going to go drinking with Scotty. Suppose we should get ready for a drunken fall?"

THE END

Authors Note:
Thank you all for reading my story.
Thank you all for your wonderful support.

Every review, private message and word of encouragement has been inspiring. I would never have had the courage to actually submit this without you. As a huge Jim!Hurts fan, I wrote something that I wanted to see, little did I know that so many would also want to read it too.

Thank You to my wonderful Beta Afroz, who has filled my head with more and more ideas.
Thank You to my wonderful friend Cherie, who's words have also inspired to me continue.

Please continue to review, I would love to know what you all think now its complete.

Look out for my next story!
Katie. :)