Captain's Personal Log Stardate: 5978.48:

Commander Spock and myself have been monitoring Dr. McCoy's sleeping patterns in order to determine the underlying cause of his sleepwalking. We have been, so far, unsuccessful. Dr. McCoy has, therefore, requested that we return to our normal sleep schedules.

Although Kirk had initially complied with McCoy's request, the unusual sleeping pattern that he had been keeping recently had led to a restlessness that had him wandering the ship's corridors at a strangely late hour, in search of something to do. Having found everything to be completely under control on the bridge, he had begun to head towards the med bay in order to check on a crewman who had been injured doing some routine wire maintenance.

However, as he headed there, he caught sight of McCoy, heading in the opposite direction, looking straight ahead. He seemed to be completely oblivious to Kirk's presence.

"Bones," Kirk shouted in an attempt to get his attention. After two further attempts of calling out warranted no reply, Kirk decided it was safe to assume that since he and Spock weren't monitoring him anymore, Murphy's law had taken hold, and McCoy had begun sleepwalking again.

He approached McCoy slowly, carefully curled his hands over his shoulders, and attempted to steer him back towards the med bay.

However, McCoy, despite being sound asleep, seemed to be stubbornly resolute in his, apparently, routine course. He shoulders twisted roughly against Kirk's hold as he drowsily mumbled an anxious sounding, "Spock."

Although Kirk doubted this was meant to be a suggestion for him, he still took it as one. He found the nearest intercom point and called Spock's quarters.

As Spock had been sound asleep when he had left, Kirk was unsurprised by the lengthy delay in reply. Once the call was answered, Kirk said, "Sorry if I woke you, but I think we've found our opportunity to determine what's going on with Bones. I would say I was bringing him to you, but he's really doing that on his own."

"Acknowledged, Captain. I will wait for you," Spock said.

Once in Spock's room, Spock and Kirk found getting McCoy to sit up on the bed rather than lie on it to be a challenge. He kept trying to curl up against Spock, despite Spock's repeated attempts to prop him up against the pillow so he could sit cross-legged across from him.

"Is it necessary that you're both in that position to do the meld?" Kirk asked. He thought he'd seen Spock do it enough times to know that it wasn't, but Spock seemed particularly resistant to allowing McCoy to essentially lie in his lap.

"It is not necessary, but it is preferable," Spock said.

"Well, Bones seems determined to fight you even in his sleep. Do you really want to fight back?" Kirk asked.

"I doubt, Captain, that the Doctor is aware of what he is doing, and if he were, I'm not certain he would be any more pleased about it than I," Spock said.

"Only one way to find out, Spock," Kirk said as he loosened his own grip on McCoy's shoulder.

In lieu of reply, Spock let McCoy's head slide down against his knee before cupping it with both his hands.

Kirk, realizing, belatedly, that he was about to intrude on something intimate, started to pull himself off the bed, "I can leave you two alone for this."

"I'd prefer you stayed, Jim," Spock said. Kirk smiled faintly at Spock calling him by name, knowing, that, unfortunately, that meant he was worried. At least, he supposed, it wasn't because of any imminent danger to any of them.

He repositioned himself on the edge of the bed and watched as Spock pressed his fingers into the meld points on McCoy's face.

Spock took on a look of deep concentration. His eyes narrowed and focused on the center of McCoy's forehead before sliding closed.

After a minute, he opened them again and turned towards Kirk, "It appears that when sleepwalking, the Doctor has been following a distress signal of some kind, but I'm having some trouble tracing its origin. It's been fading steadily since... he came into my quarters. It is almost as if it is linked to them in some way..."

Spock's eyes widened as he abruptly pulled his hands away from McCoy. Kirk knew that whatever Spock had just realized warranted afascinating , but he didn't say it. Instead, he clasped his hands together and looked down at them.

"Spock?" Kirk asked. "Something wrong?"
"No, Captain," Spock said, though his tone suggested otherwise.

"Did you locate the source of the signal?" Kirk asked.

"Affirmative, Captain," Spock said, continuing to stare at his hands. Even though Kirk was now looking at him expectantly, he did not yield any further information.

"The source, Spock?" Kirk said.

After a long pause, Spock locked eyes with his, "It appears, Jim, that I am the source."

Kirk furrowed his brow as he watched Spock tentatively. He found that it made as much sense as it didn't. "Explain."

Spock's attention returned to his hands.

"Spock, you said that it was a distress signal. Should I infer from that that you are in some kind of distress?" Kirk asked.

"Negative, Captain," Spock said.

"Spock, if there's something wrong with you, you know I need to know," Kirk said, giving Spock as meaningful a look as he could muster. He didn't think Spock was lying, but he also knew that Spock wasn't telling him everything.

Spock considered his hands a moment longer before saying, "I no longer believe, Jim, that distress was an accurate way in which to qualify the signal."

"Then what would be?" Kirk asked.

"Concern," Spock said.

"Concern for?" Kirk asked. He thought he had the answer plain enough, but he still wanted to hear Spock say it.

Spock didn't say anything. However, his gaze fell back to McCoy's forehead, betraying him even more than, perhaps, his words could.

"The ship's need to have a Doctor that is alive and well," Spock said.

"I see," Kirk said, and he did. He saw both that Spock's subconscious was demonstrating how strongly he felt and that Spock needed to cover up the perceived illogicality of such feelings.

They both tensed reflexively as McCoy blinked and rubbed his hand over his eyes. He turned his head, which was still roughly in Spock's lap, up to Spock. "You do realize, Spock, that I'm not the only member of this ship's medical staff?"

"Nor are you its most competent member," Spock replied, "but having a ship's surgeon is better than not, regardless of how well he is trained."

McCoy looked like he was about to argue, but Kirk interjected before he had the chance. "How long have you been listening, Bones?"

"Long enough," McCoy said as he sat up. "I should have known it was this green-blooded hobgoblin making me roam the ship."

"You have not been "roaming" the ship, Doctor. You've been following a fixed route to my quarters," Spock said. "Furthermore, it was not necessary for you to respond to the signal."

"Because, while asleep, I was certainly capable of making that conscious decision," McCoy muttered.

"I'm not sure I'm following, Spock," Kirk said. He was almost positive he was following, but there was nothing quite like getting Spock to own up to having emotions. "How are you able to transmit a signal to Bones when you are both asleep?"

"I believe, Captain, that it is a subconscious telepathic and empathic link that could not be created unless we were both asleep," Spock said. "Nor would it be possible if I were not a Vulcan or if the Doctor were not possessed of his highly emotional demeanor."

"You mean to say that I'm acting on some kind of empathic impulse?" McCoy asked. "In my sleep?"

"Affirmative, Doctor," Spock said.

The long and short of it was, Kirk surmised, that Spock and McCoy's feelings for one another were being addressed when neither of them were consciously aware of it.

"Bones, I think what Spock's getting at is that he's been worried about you," Kirk said.

At this, clearly indignant, Spock climbed off the bed. He walked a few feet away before placing his hands on his hips, looking as lost as he often did when things stepped outside of his control and rational understanding under his command.

"About to tell me you aren't able to be worried?" McCoy asked.

"As much as I would like to do so, Doctor, I find that it would be hard to deny that my human side has, as you would put it, peaked thru," Spock said.

"And here I thought only Jim was blessed with such an unusual privilege," McCoy said, climbing off the bed to trail after Spock.

Once he was beside him, McCoy hesitated briefly before coiling his hand around Spock's wrist, "And, Spock, really, I'm alright. After all, I'm still here, aren't I?"

"That, McCoy, I can also not deny," Spock said, momentarily placing his other hand over McCoy's. Then he followed McCoy back to the bed.

"Well, Spock, the next time you're worried about me, can't you just say so?" McCoy asked. "Save me a hell of a lot of trouble."

"How so, Doctor?" Spock asked.

"Instead of waiting around for your telepathic phone call, I'll start out right here," McCoy said, patting the bed.

"That would be logical, Doctor," Spock said. "Captain?"

"As long as you two keep me apprised of the sleeping arrangement," Kirk said. "This bed isn't really big enough for three. One of the few shortcomings of the ship's design."