Unsettling Dreams - McCoy

by Satin Ragdoll

McCoy dreams...

oOo

He knows exactly where he is when he finds himself in the little glade, and who will be waiting there for him. He's not exactly happy with her, either.

Dolly looks up from the bench, "Hello, Dr. McCoy. I should have known you would be next. How are you?"

Bones crossed his arms, aggravated. "Not that good, actually. Do you mind telling me why I've been smelling like smoke lately, with me being the only one who could smell it? I thought I was going crazy! Then Spock and Kirk told me about dreaming of you."

Dolly looked over to her left and tipped her chin up a little, "Look over there." Bones looked, and saw thin plumes of smoke in the distance.

Dolly pointed to another area, much closer, "And there." The plants and ground were a little blackened.

McCoy lifted a brow, "What happened?"

Her lips tightened a little, "A couple of people didn't exactly like some of what I did with you. I got a little scorched."

Dolly sighed, "I might end up changing some things, if I get scorched any more. Altering one story and killing another altogether."

McCoy was alarmed, "What? You can't go around altering your stories like that! Who knows what kind of effects it will have? What are you thinking? Don't I have enough to deal with, always patching up the Captain, not to mention that green-blooded hobgoblin? Show a little mercy on an old country doctor, will ya'?"

Dolly scowled, "Calm down! It's not as if you'll be thrown into a wormhole or anything. Goodness! It hasn't even happened yet. Things will just happen a little differently in your future, that's all!"

Her expressioned softened, "Don't worry, Bones. I don't intend on messing around with canon that much, if at all. I did that once, but I think that there is enough plot space so that your reality won't be blown to smithereens."

Dolly's expression darkened, and she muttered, "Not that canon didn't try blowing up your reality."

McCoy sat down beside her, "I don't really understand all that 'canon' stuff."

Dolly sighed, "It's a little complicated, and there are some things you are going to find...uncomfortable."

Bones grinned, "Hit me! I can take it. I'm a tough old bird."

oOo

Dolly began, "Star Trek, the television show that is the basis of your reality, started Earth-time in the 1960's!"

McCoy laughed, "No kidding! That early? Really?"

Dolly nodded and smiled, "Yeah! I grew up on Star Trek. There was the television series, an animated series, and the movies. Those were the official story line. That's 'canon'. The books would contradict each other sometimes, and the stories... well. Sometimes they could be really out there. Those weren't considered 'canon'. Got it?"

McCoy nodded.

Dolly's smile faded, "For you, you're probably in the middle of the first five-year mission. Looks like it, anyway. That's the series that was in the 60's. Thing is, right now, for me, it's Earth-time year 2012. Do the math."

Bones whistled, "Wow. Okay, but I still don't get what the big deal is."

Dolly met his eyes, "You, as characters, may or may not be immortal in your reality. I don't know. But the actors that played you are not. They aged, and some of them aren't around anymore."

McCoy was taken aback, "They're dead? Who?"

Dolly lowered her eyes, "James Doohan, who played Scotty. Majel Barret, who played Chapel." She lifted her eyes again, and Bones could see the tears in them, "DeForest Kelley, who played you."

McCoy's eyes went wide, "Wha-me?"

Dolly nodded, "Yes, you. Canon is a closed book for you, at least as far as this time-line is concerned."

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the disconcerting feeling that he just might be a ghost. "Humor me, Dolly. I still don't get this time-line business."

Dolly sighed, "Somebody got the bright idea of doing the original crew again, but with new people playing the old characters. To do this, they totally blew the old timeline, and didn't fix it! The only one that crossed over was Spock. Now there's new Spock and old Spock, who is commonly called Spock Prime."

She gritted her teeth, "But what they did to him! Oh my God, what they did to him! I couldn't stand it! Sooo...I fixed it! At least in my stories, I prevented the whole bloody reboot! Ha! And it looks like it's going to work, too!"

McCoy nodded, "Yeah. As much as he can irritate me sometimes, I can't stand to see his green-blooded hide hurting. So, everything will be okay, now?"

Dolly shook her head, "Regarding that, yes. But, Bones, there's a whole lot that happens between where you are and that time."

Her eyes widened, "You guys are in for a wild ride, and that's no joke! I can't...I can't even begin to tell you what's ahead! All I can tell you is to try and be strong, and of course be there for each other."

She smiled at him, "I can tell you that you live to be an old, old white-haired man, however. And that's canon!"

McCoy grinned, "That's a relief. My molecules don't get scrambled in that bloody transporter or anything, huh?"

Dolly laughed, then blinked, "Uh oh! Wake up time. 'Bye, Doctor! Don't give Spock too much of a hard time, huh?" She winked out.

oOo

McCoy wakes...

For the next week he's very subdued. Finally Kirk comes to his quarters, "What's eating you, Bones? And don't tell me it's nothing."

McCoy sighs, and pours himself a glass of Saurian brandy, "I dreamed of Dolly."

Kirk nods, "Ah," and waits for his friend to continue.

Bones regarded the amber liquid in his glass, "Do you ever think of your double, Jim? The actor who played you in her reality?"

Kirk rubbed his chin, "No, bones. Can't say that I have. He must have been a handsome devil, though. Why? Did you learn something about your double? What's he like?"

Bones hesitated a moment before he could meet his Captain's eyes. Finally he said the only thing he could say, "He's dead, Jim."

Fin.