THE DOCTOR IN THE MORGUE

6.

Bones muttered curses at the annoying sounds of an all alert alarm going off waking him from his much needed slumber. He looked at the time display on the wall nearest to where he had been laying in the most comfortable position he had mustered in the past four hours. It was too early for there to be a crisis on the Enterprise.

He kicked the covers away before stomping out of his room with the clothes he had slept in to see the flashing red lights cueing that something bad had seriously happened. As he rushed down the halls intending to hurry to the bridge he was stopped by Spock who started to shove him the opposite direction - a portion of the ship where he knew only one person was housed at the current moment.

The pediatric doctor - Dev - who he had been trying to not be that concerned with for several reasons. One of which was because she didn't want him to be for her own reasons. The others were of his own decision. He started to book it a bit faster. What he found gave him a serious headache. Both the resident captain of the ship and communications officer - Uhura and Jim were trying to wedge the door open. It didn't appear to want to give away.

The particular room they had put Dev in was designed for privacy. Strictly unable to be open by force. It was something that the dark skinned lieutenant had pressed to have for the human doctor as another woman on the ship. They needed their own space; to not be bothered by others.

Bones was increasingly annoyed by this the longer the door was not budging. After standing there impatiently more minutes than he would liked. He cursed them all in various languages he had picked up and took out a handy device that he kept on his person even when he was sleep. He aimed it at the locking mechanism causing a corrosive reaction that caused the others to stand back as he - the resident doctor went in.

The alarm had been triggered when the room itself detected an anomaly in the status of the woman in the room. This was its second major feature that Bones had put in order for just in case something like this happened. He found her a few feet away from the bed, she had never made it there.

He moved over to her without a second thought and considering he hadn't slipped his scanner into his pocket favoring his upgraded phaser instead, he had to do everything old school. He checked her pulse first.

Not hearing the footsteps of his best friend crouching next to him he nearly jumped when Kirk asked, "She still breathing?"

He held back the sigh of annoyance. He hated when he creeped up on him like that. "For now. We need to get her to the medical bay."

Kirk whistle to two others who had stepped in the room and motioned for them to help move her to the designated location. "We do have another problem which Spock is trying to handle as my second."

"One problem at a time, Jim." Bones mumbled as he rose to his feet. He would have to use his spare uniform in the Bay for now since he needed to work as quick as possible.

"Doctor Hooper and her detective boyfriend arrived about five minutes ago."

"Dammit, Jim. You should have led with that!" Bones wheeled out of the room following a familiar path back to the Medic Bay to work on his patient.

"Yeah," It wasn't hard for Kirk to not keep up with his friend although after being woken up so suddenly he did have a little less pep in his step. "She wants to see her. Clearly knows something wrong. Says she knows something that might help."

Bones stopped short of stepping into the room with another medic who was already starting to hook up Dev to the IVs to try to stabilize her condition in some way. "Fine. Only she comes in. Leave the bean pole with Spock. I have a feeling the two will have a lot to talk about."

"Oh, I hear he almost punched him. He looks like Khan." Jim mumbled before turning around to heed the good doctor's advice and fetch the female doctor of the morgue.

Bones slipped into the room with growing concern for the brunette lying still while the other people filling the room were in a state of urgency.

-x-

Molly was struggling to make sense of everything. Sherlock had been remotely quiet for once. Only humming in agreement or disagreement as she took control of talking to the point eared man and a lean boy with curly hair with an accent. It probably had something to do with the fact that he was also almost attacked once they had found official looking people after being beamed onto the ship with little to no warning. Sherlock had been insistent that they do it sooner rather than later just in case another case popped up and he wouldn't be able to go with her. Molly having witnessed her significant other steady dropping cases left and right for personal situations knew that he was just trying to get the whole affair over with. He wanted to be in Baker Street above all else.

They had been having a row - Molly and Spock - for about fifteen minutes before a dashing looking man in a cotton shirt and pajamas cut in. "Bones said I can bring you the Medic Bay, Doctor Hooper. I'm the captain of the ship. Your friend caused a massive alert to go off waking up half the ship."

Molly frowned, turning her attention away from the aggravating foreign man for someone who seemed to know more. "How is she?"

"Alive. Let's see if we can help shall we?" Jim gave her a soft smile aware of how nerve-wracking all of this could be when under duress. He stretched his hand for her to take. "He only wants you however. Called your companion a bean pole and suggested that he should stay with Mr. Spock."

Molly hesitated. She didn't think that was the best idea but she was also sure that Sherlock could handle himself without making too much of a mess. "Are you sure he can't…"

"I'll be fine, Molly. I'm sure we can be civil once I explain who I really am." Spock made no move to agree with him but on blind faith alone and the look of desperation on the captain's face it appeared he had no other choice but to comply with the request.

Molly squeezed Sherlock's hand in reassurance as much as a warning before departing with the captain.

"What's your name, Captain?" She asked as they began walking.

"James Tiberius Kirk. Most people call me Kirk or Jim. Whatever works for you, Doctor."

"Another Jim, my luck is dwindling quickly." She muttered to herself mostly.

"Ex boyfriend?" He questioned out of habit. She wasn't the first person he came across who had reacted that way. He had no need to woo her however so his line of questioning was merely out of curiosity.

"In part. I'll call you Captain or Kirk. " She resolved, not wanting to exactly discuss Jim Moriarty and how he had upended her life. She was a much happier person now.

"Sounds good. I do have an inquiry, however."

"Yes?" She asked as they came to a halt in front of a frost glass door that had a small sign next to it signalling that they had finally arrived to the Medic Bay where Dev was waiting for her.

"Do you believe in fate? It's an odd question but as of late I've been thinking that even the most inconvenient occurrences might not be so bad if it means seeing the people you care about not dwell on the past."

For the first time since arriving on this space ship Molly began to relax. The Captain was trying to lowkey ask if it was wrong that he was glad that Bones and Dev had met. She thought that was rather sweet of him considering there was a fault in their system that meant her stay - and hers - would be much longer.

"Sometimes I do. I've had an interesting life that somehow kept me in Sherlock's sphere. Even when I thought about getting out there was always something that pulled me back in. Rather annoying at times considering he's not the best man everyone wishes he was but I love him. Do you imagine in such a short time there is a connection between my friend and yours?" She wasn't going to hide behind a veil and not address this head on.

"It wouldn't be the worst thing. He's a difficult man but he's my best friend and I've never seen him react the way he did when he saw her on the ground." He paused brushing a hand over his face, clearly exhausted. "But, maybe it's his whole doctor mode that he gets into when people are hurt. Even still it wouldn't be bad."

"I suppose it wouldn't." Molly gave him a half smile knowing how much Dev could drive someone crazy. She did it often with Sherlock but to his credit he usually did it right back to try to get under her skin. It was hard to do that unless you knew where to look. As another doctor it was very easy to see that perhaps he had. Their correspondence over the past couple months did help solidify Captain Kirk's line of thinking. He also had a point, medical curiosity was also at play here. She'd find out for them both shortly which one outweighed the other.

"Thanks for walking me here. You should try to get some rest, Captain." Molly patted the golden haired man on the back as he turned to leave, nodding at her. He did need sleep but he had to check on the rest of his crew first.

-x-

Once Molly entered the room quietly not wanting to disturb the flow of things. Besides the familiar face of Doctor McCoy there was only one other person present. A male assistant who occasionally listed something off to Bones who would enter it on the tablet like device he was holding looking pensive.

Molly clears her throat as she approaches him not wanting to startle him. In her own practice she is often caught off guard when working so she gives him the same courtesy. Bones head jerks to his left where she stops behind Dev's head. She bares a half smile for a second before looking at her friend who looks pale. Her brow is furrowed as if she's struggling, Molly knows that she is.

When she finally addresses the men in the room there aren't any pleasantries per say, only answers. "She has a cognitive heart condition that she was born with. It's incredibly rare and non sofar have there been a definite way of curing it. The heart is fragile as you know Doctor McCoy."

"How does she treat it if there is no cure?"

Molly tilts her head up to him and smiles before taking the plastic baggie from out of her pocket. Two bottles of pills are safely confined within. Bones takes them and immediately realizes why Dev has had more trouble here than usual. She has to take each pill three times a day or she'll have cardiac problems.

"She forgot them." Molly sighs. "She never told me but when we saw her during the first communication with Scotty I could see the lack of color on her face. She was holding on but she wasn't going to get better before she either ended up in the hospital again or she took her pills."

Bones nodded in understanding. "I'll create a liquid version for today. See if it helps. If not I have a backup plan." He paused. "It is nice to see you again, Molly."

"All things considered, you too." She stayed with Dev as Bones went into his office to begin to crush and mix the two drugs together. They were both high doses. He would think she would be monitored constantly on such heavy medications then he remembered that she worked in a hospital. Perhaps it was better that she chose that field in addition to her own health issues.

"Who's her doctor on Earth?" He called out as Molly took a seat next to Dev.

"His name is Douglas. Competent for the most part. He's been taking care of her case ever since she moved to London after college. I met her shortly after I started at Bart's."

"You been close ever since?"

Molly chuckled. "Yeah. She's one of my close friends. We don't see each other as often as we used to. She deals with children and I'm in the morgue. Not to mention I'm often off with Sherlock doing stuff for his job."

"A detective?" He questioned.

"The only consulting detective. I have no one else to vouch for that but he's great at his title. Makes me a bit mad every week." He could tell that her feelings about him hadn't wavered in the least. It was good to have that when you could. It made him vaguely wistful but he had more pressing concerns as of late than finding someone to date.

Bones was quiet for a little while as he continued to work. It took about ten minutes to change forms. He spent time looking at all the information he gathered in the past forty minutes from both Molly and the thorough scan she was given after being brought here. Under normal circumstances he would imagine this involved a miracle. However with the tech they had on board the Enterprise there was a chance of finding a cure if he could narrow down the grey areas associated with her ailment. They'd cross that bridge when they got there.

Molly watched Bones work for a little while. Captain Kirk had been right. Bones did seem very dedicated to taking care of people. Even while just looking over Dev's file on his tablet he appeared to be very involved in the task. For a few moments he directly mirrored her own significant other. It nearly took her off guard to see how much gentler he was when the finally slipped back through to meet her again and began to administer the medication in a familiar avenue of a drip bag. The monitor that was used to regulate it didn't look from earth however.

"That looks complicated." She mumbled as she watched him input symbols and numbers onto it with ease.

He chuckled. "You're still working with dated technology, Doctor Hooper. This is quite the improvement. It'll increase the dosage over the course of the day. Not giving her too much at once. It can regulate if it helps at all, and once she awakes she can also adjust it herself with the button. That's still something you have in the 21st century."

She hummed in affirmation. "How long do you think it'll take? I don't know how long she was out."

"Unfortunately I haven't got that information yet. Chekov - the Russian kid who brought her here - is working on getting me the data. It'll help pinpoint how long she'll be out. The medicine should help fight the lasting pieces of the heart attack she was experiencing."

"I don't know if I would call it a heart attack. It's more severe as if her heart is rejecting her body."

"As if it wasn't her own? You think it's similar to what happens with transplant patients?" He inquired. He would have never thought of that.

"This was a mild version than what I've experienced first hand but yes. It's the closest I've come to rationalizing it since she's the only person alive still fighting it."

Bones was impressed with the child doctor. He originally thought she was annoying just to get on people's nerves. She was the way she was because it's the only reason to remind herself that she wasn't dead yet.

He hadn't even realised he had started gawking at Dev until Molly asked him another question. "Did I solve a piece of the puzzle?"

He shook his head to rid himself of whatever trance he fell into. "Not sure, yet."

Molly smiled softly at his reaction. She imagined that might have been the first proper time he had done that and been caught to boot.

There's some intrigue there, Captain Kirk. She thought silently.

It took three days before Dev actually came back to the living. Sherlock eventually allowed in after complaining (deducing) too much. He mostly sat in a corner and watched the two doctor interact. He liked how quiet it was in here.

The quiet only lasted so long.

Dev woke with a weak gasp of air as if her chest had caved in on her. She was immediately surrounded by the two doctors. She was more surprised to see Molly than Bones who looked rattled by her sudden outburst.

"Molly…" She settled back down with the aid of her not totally alien male doctor. "When did you get here?"

Molly grinned. "Right around the time you decided to scare the entire crew of this ship. You scared me too." She added softly.

"Habit. Hard to break." She shut her eyes for a moment willing everything in her body to cooperate for more than a few minutes so that she wouldn't fall back to sleep so quickly.

"You should be starving." Bones came from her left.

This caused her to open one of her eyes. She gave him a rather half sheepish look that mostly showcased how out of it she still was. "Actually I have to piss."

The look on her face made her laugh. It hurt but it did remind her that she didn't die just yet. "I could eat too." She added when he had rolled his eyes at her attempt to be humorous.

All things considered she was happy to not be shrouded in pain and darkness any longer.

She spotted Sherlock meandering in the corner and she desperately wanted to ask if he had met his twin yet. That would have to wait.

She really did have to piss.


yo, this thing is still ticking apparently. Also partial thanks goes to Cath100 who left a really lovely review recently plus another one for the sherlolly ff appreciation week on Tumblr which was even lovelier. She's a gem.

Some changes happened in between the last time I updated this. Like the Spock and Sherlock interaction isn't exactly in here. So sorry, it didn't flow so I'm saving it for another time. Hope that's okay.

I was really thrilled to write about Bones and Molly again. Their dynamic is one of my favorites. It'll only get better as the Dev and Bones storyline develops. Just you wait. AGAIN SO SORRY FOR HOW LONG THIS TOOK. My muse is not to be trusted. Period.

I'd love to hear from any of you about your thoughts on this. I wrote it in two days. Almost a miracle with my energy levels from my new work shift haha

See you as soon as I can with pt. 7.

much love,

day