Wow, sorry guys! I know I've been updating every couple of days, but it's been a couple crazy weeks! I:

- wrote in an all day writing tournament (and personally got third place overall, out of 14 schools!)

- worked for a woman doing odd jobs (such as building her website or putting away her Christmas decorations)

- had mid-term exams (which I studied hard for and did very well on, thank you very much.)

- started a novel (so I won't be updating as frequently, sorry!) (UPDATE: like most things I start writing, I haven't touched this novel in a couple weeks, so...)

- came out as bi! :) YAYYYYYY ME.

So yeah, it's been a little crazy. Sue me.

Jim turned to his guest on the bridge. "Dr. Watson, please head down to Sickbay!" It wasn't a request, and the doctor didn't complain or argue, just nodded and turned away, heading to the turbolift. Obedient. Used to orders. Jim mused. He'd think more about that later, say, when the ship wasn't being attacked.

Jim had turned back to place his full attention on the situation at hand when the sound of muffled cursing came from the direction of the turbolift. It was John Watson. He was lightly kicking the doors to the turbolift, which was responding Turbolifts temporarily offline. Turbolifts temporarily offline.

Now it was Jim's turn to swear. "Damnit. Alright Dr. Watson, you'll be staying here for the time being!" To which the doctor nodded briefly and placed himself in an out of the way position. Ex-soldier? Jim thought. Dr. Watson looked like he was used to receiving orders.

But before Jim could think about it more, Uhura exclaimed, turning around in her chair to face him, "Sir, we've got an incoming transmission from one of the Romulan ships!"

He nodded, mask falling smoothly and quickly into place, the very picture of calm and collectedness. "On screen, Lieutenant."

Nyota- no, this was Lieutenant Uhura now- complied, and not two seconds later, Jim was looking into the eyes of a Romulan sitting in a chair not dissimilar to his own.

"Kirk." The Romulan said, not wasting any time with pleasantries, or bothering to call Jim by his title.. "Surrender now and me might not decimate you." His words came out harsh and mocking.

"And why would I do that?" Jim asked.

At this, the Romulan smiled. "Because your outgunned. Oh, and did I mention the bomb I've placed on your Bridge?"

Jim successfully hid the panic from his face, as did Spock. Dr. John Watson did also, surprisingly. But the other members of the senior bridge crew weren't able to. He saw Bones and other move around, glancing everywhere, but as of yet they didn't know where the bomb was, so they couldn't get away from it.

"What do you have to gain by blowing up the bridge of Starfleet's flagship?" Jim was genuinely curious. It wasn't like the Romulan captain just went around placing bombs on people's ships- at least, he didn't think so. What had he or the Federation done to piss off the Romul... Oh.

Nero.

Yeah, he imagined the Romulans would be pretty mad about that. Probably would've even been hailed as a hero. What would happen on Earth if he himself died, being a hero, sort of? So yeah, Jim could see where they were coming from. Kirk just didn't think they would react like this. Planting a bomb on his bridge... It could be anywhere! Heck, the bomb could even be in the Captain's chair, for god's sake! At that thought, Jim wanted to jump out of his chair and scream like a little girl, but he restrained himself. It wouldn't do any favors for his command image.

"You, Kirk, are public enemy number one! Nero was a hero, and you killed him. You embody all of what we Romulans despise!" Behind Captain, other Romulans cheered and pounded on things.

Jim resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Stupid Romulans acting like fucking gorillas. But then he remembered the position he was in. The bomb. He was at their mercy, and he could not afford to anger him.

"What do you want?" Jim tried not to sound desperate.

A cruel grin spread across the Romulan captain's face, manic and psychotic. "Your death."

McCoy was angry. At the Romulans. A bomb on the goddamn bridge?! Really?! He wondered how the bomb got there, but stopped himself. Now was not the time, he needed to focus on the situation at hand. Jim was talking with the Romulan, successfully stalling him as the other bridge members discreetly searched for the hidden explosive. They hadn't found it yet, but wouldn't give up. The Enterprise had faced worse than this psycho.

Leonard could barely hear of the sound of the blood pumping through his ears, so he missed Jim finally losing his cool and essentially hanging up on the bastard. Immediately, McCoy's best friend sprang into action. "Ok guys, where have you already searched?"

"Ve have searched most of zhe stations, but not wery thoroughly, we didn't vant him to see us." Chekov answered promptly, to which Jim nodded.

"Ok, let's keep looking." Wow, way to state the obvious. Jim thought angrily to himself. Stupid!

Together, the bridge crew searched the station's high and low, but to no avail. The bomb was no where to be found.

"Captain," Spock started. "Has it occurred to you that this may be a bluff?"

Jim sighed. "Yeah, but we've got no way of knowing for sure."

Leonard wasn't too happy with people in general. As pretty much anybody on the Enterprise could tell you, this wasn't unusual behavior, but it was more pronounced when he was worried for his life- namely, now. He looked over and saw that John was standing at parade rest, hands clasped behind his back like he was a hobgoblin. His face was glazed over, but McCoy could tell there was some panic and confusion deep beneath his blue eyes. He saw this sometimes with traumatized veterans- they simply shut down when a situation became too familiar, too horrible, simply too much. Normally, McCoy would just leave the vet be, let him deal with it on his own (the doctor knew that if you tried to touch or move a soldier in this state, they could snap and become violent), but desperate times called for desperate measures. He walked over to the genetically engineered man in perfect four-four timing, stopped right in front of him, and barked, "Captain Watson! Report!"

This got the CMO more than a few odd looks from the others occupying the Bridge, but he ignored them. Damn nosy assholes.

Immediately, John snapped to attention, a salute flying into place. "Captain Watson, reporting for du-" He stopped, looking very confused.

McCoy's face gentled in sympathy. "Dr. Watson, you're on the Enterprise remember? We need you to help us." His voice was gruff, but comforting.

The lines of uncertainty disappeared as realization entered. He nodded once, looking embarrassed, and began looking for the explosive along with everyone else. Leonard watched him warily for a few seconds before resuming the search.

All John could think of when he heard about the bomb was that dreaded pool. The showdown, the epic showdown, because both geniuses were egotistical and couldn't just let anything simmer down, oh no. No they had to strap a bomb to John, of course they did, they took away his basic human right- free speech- and made even his best friend in the world doubt him. And to be honest, that hurt more than anything else Sherlock had done. Because seeing that look in Sherlock's eyes as his entire world seemingly crashed around him (John John no not John trick no best friend Moriarty John no MoriartyJohn no no no no no no) was like a dagger to the heart. Sherlock didn't trust him enough to know that little simple-minded John would never do that, would never be capable of doing that. Sherlock already made fun of him for not being a complete and utter genius, there was no need to do that. No need.

So all John could think of was the utter helplessness and fury and outright panic, and John couldn't escape from that.

It was a welcome relief when McCoy snapped, "Captain Watson! Report!"

And John, on instinct, began to salute. He soon came to his senses and blushed. John busied himself with searching for the bomb, embarrassed and not looking anyone in the eye.

Lieutenant Nyota Uhura wasn't afraid to admit that she was slightly scared. Anyone who wasn't either was crazy, or named Jim Kirk. Possibly both.(1.) Now, she would never ever tell Kirk this, not even after a bottle of Romulan ale, but it reassured her that her Captain was acting so calm. And she hated herself for it. All of her life, just because of her looks, people assumed she was some dumb bimbo, and, all her life, she had been fighting that stereotype by working hard, and showing off her smarts. Uhura hated to waver now, even if some asshole Romulan decided to plant a bomb on their bridge. So she straightened her spine (not literally) resolved to be extra independent for the next couple days. That is, if we even make it through the next hour. said the small voice in the back of her head. Shut up. she retorted, then stopped immediately when she realized that she was conversing with herself. Nyota set back to work with renewed vigor, meticulously combing the Bridge for the explosive.

She eyed Dr. John Watson rather suspiciously. She didn't fully trust him- and it wasn't because he was the same... thing as Khan. No, she believed that trust had to be earned and not given, and she had practically just met the man. That didn't stop the Lieutenant from watching along with the rest of the Bridge crew as McCoy had to snap the man out of his... panic attack? Mental breakdown? Something to do with PTSD? Or maybe all of the above. Sighing, she went back to looking for the bomb.

All Scotty wanted was a nice sandwich. Was that really too much to ask? Just one wee little sandwich with ham and turkey and a nice ol' hunk of swiss cheese. Washed down, o' course, by some nice brandy. Scotty could feel himself start to drool just thinking about it. But there were more important things than food! His silver lady was bein' attacked! Scotty, on principle, immediately hated the attacking Romulans so much, that if he could've he would curse them with the inability to eat sandwiches. And that was sayin' something, coming from the Scotsman.

But never mind. He could go on about the glory of sandwiches for ages if you let him, but that really wasn't relevant to the situation. Inwardly bemoaning his rumbling stomach, Scotty resumed the search.

John was fervently searching the Bridge, remembering the IED's of 2010 and hoping that this situation wouldn't end as badly as others like it he had seen before. The army doctor grimaced, remembering the chaos of sounds of war- the shouting soldiers, the crying soldiers. Then there were the sounds that weren't so loud- the low groan of a man in agony, the soft footsteps as you wearily went back to bed after a hard day's work. But it was the silent sounds that John hated the most- these were the ones where you couldn't hear a man breathing anymore, and realizing you lost him. Those John would never forget. He shook his head, as if to shake away the bad memories.

He was looking around when he heard something unusual. John put his hand up for silence. He heard the noise again, and narrowed his eyes. John followed his ears as he attempted to located the source of the sound. There! John thought triumphantly. The Captain's chair! He ripped off the cushion to reveal a black box with a winking red light. He paled as he realized what he was looking at. Dr. John H. Watson stared at the bomb.

He vaguely recognized the rest of the Bridge's occupants crowding around him, just as he vaguely recognized the Romulan's taunting voice as he appeared back on screen. What John did recognize, however, was the bomb exploding.

Personally, I liked this chapter! Your thoughts?

(1.) And here we have some contrast in viewpoints on one character- James T. Kirk. Uhura doesn't think that Kirk is scared, when in reality he definitely is. But Captains can't show weakness, and so Jim powers on. Poor Jim.

As a side note, I really, really love Hurt!Jim, so

this weeks challenge is to comment as to your favorite couple Hurt!Jim stories are.

My personal favorite is called Ingenious Idiot by Kanae Yuna. It combines Hurt!Jim with BAMF!Jim and Genius!Jim.

OMG IT IS SOOOOO AMAZING!

Ok, supreme fangirling moment over.

Signing off, CallTo Muster.

P.S. A big shoutout to my beta, whom I keep accidentally ignoring in my haste to publish chapters. Thanks!