Chapter 6

Jim made his way back to the quarters, still slightly disturbed by his skittish crew throwing horrified frowns at the blood-splatter across his body. Exhaustion was setting in and he was still covered in gore, so he didn't blame them, hell, from what he saw of his reflection, he would be scared shitless of him, too.

When he opened the door, Jim was greeted by the sound of the shower running. Bones and Spock had probably taken notice of the dried blood they were covered in. As the door swished shut behind him, Jim pulled off his damp under shirt, grimacing at the congealing blood that now stained his hands and smeared his chest, pale after months in space with no way to maintain his once golden tan.

Dumping the shirt in the garbage, he looked around and scooped up his and Spock's over shirts and poked his fingers through some of the holes in the fabric, and wondering how the hell Bones had lived so long or if any of it could be true. 'No, it's true… its Bones –and he wouldn't make something like this up for shits and giggles.'

Kirk made his way into the bathroom and found Spock and Bones leaning against each other under the spray of a real water shower. He pulled off the remainder of his damp uniform and climbed in to join them. He rinsed off the worst of the grime then leaned up behind bones and rested his chin on his shoulder.

"What happened next?" Jim whispered and wrapped his arms around Bones' toned waist and rubbed small circles into his hips.

"Perhaps it would be best if we continued this conversation in a mind meld." Spock suggested when he felt Leonard shudder against him and a stab of panic mixed with apprehension assaulted the part of his mind connected to the doctor's.

"Didn't you say that doing that would solidify the bonds we have and effectively make us married in the eyes of Vulcans?" McCoy asked from the crook of Spock's neck.

"I did and it will."

"How can you be okay with that? I'm in the middle of a story telling you how I'm a mutant freak."

"Bones, you're too good of a person to be a monster, and I love you –we love you. Whatever you did is done, and now we need to deal with it …together, and so help me if you try to wallow in this alone, I'll bite you!" Jim growled into the shoulder he had been nuzzling.

Together and terrified, Spock raised his sensitive hands to his lovers' faces, placing his fingers delicately on their temples and over their eyes. He had the most knowledge on what would occur next, and he was, of the three, the most sure on their course of action. As the spray of water washed over their heads, his mind reached out to touch theirs, one flame-bright and new, the other shy—and very old.

"My mind to your minds." 'My thoughts to your thoughts.'

A rush of movement. Pinkie, gone. "Get Sam!" Sister. They're coming. Hundreds of them. Retreat. Failure in the nano-wall. Blood. Duke, gone. Sarge, gone. Keep firing. Pain. Burning, pain. Must get Sam to safety.

Tired. Keep her safe. So tired. Can't go any further. Pain. Blood. "Listen to me Sam." "Pop the top and hit the button." "Pop the top..." C-24. "You're my brother. I know you." "You're my brother..."

Darkness. "Sam?" Confusion. Find Sam. Monsters. Shoot. Power thrumming, life... Death. Monsters. Blood. "Sam?" Pinkie... Sort of. 'John'. More monsters. Blood. "Sam?"

Quarantine almost over. "Sam!" Sarge. Bad, very bad. Turning. Shoot him. Half a clip. "I got... One round." Jump. Chase him, kill him. Find him. Smell him. Hart beat. Breathing. Move. Gone. "Semper fi, Motherfucker. Faithful to the core."

Fast. Very fast. Punch, kick, swing punch, kick, fly. Hold him. Thrown. Punch. Metal. Pain. Wall. 'The Portal.' Push. Button. Push. Swing. Portal. Wait. Release. Pain. Nothing. "Like the Kid said. Go to hell."

Sam. "Almost home."

................

Research facility. "NO!" Instinct. Bodies everywhere. UAC officers. Sam's in danger. My fault. Have to leave. Streets. Camps. Hunger. Them or me. Survive. Must survive. Death means opportunity to be studied. Hunger. Food. Sam? No. Help them. Leave. Cage Reaper.

News. Sam dead. Funeral.

Roam. Hide.

Storm. UAC falls. Free. Leonard H. McCoy. Medical school. Doctor. Jocelyn. Joanna. Happy.

Discovery. Panic. Not going to reveal, for sake of Joanna. Disgusting. Divorce.

Starfleet. Space. Shuttle. Jim. Academy. Vulcan. Enterprise. Spock. Happy...

Ambush. Blood. Bullets. JIM! SPOCK! Reaper. Blood. Death. 'Can't lose you.' Bite. Save. Realization. 'OhGodwhathaveIdone?' Never forgive me. RUN!

Alive. Fear. Discovery. UAC will find us. Will have to hide again. Run....

...........

All three broke apart, gasping for breath. Tears making their way down cheeks, only noticeably by the little wet gasps, reddened eyes and the taste of salt on lips pressed, seeking comfort in the crook of necks.

"Bones..." Jim grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around. "God, Bones..." Kissing him soundly, sucking on wet lips, nipping them and licking them better, tongue delving deeper. 'Love you, both of you.' A hand twined with his and lips descended on his shoulder.

'How can they both forgive me for turning them into monsters?'

'Because we love you Leonard, and because we are not monsters.'

Bones broke away from Jim, "Spock?" he gasped.

'Correct. The bonds have been solidified, and I will attest to you: none of us are monsters.'

'And, Bones, we'll never leave you, no matter what. Right, Spock?' and of course Jim would pick up the whole telepathic thing straight away. There was a chuckle from his shoulder and a murmur of approval from the other.

'You still don't know what I've done to you –you can't accept me yet.'

'We do know. You've turned us into creatures like you. Faster, stronger, smarter, better senses. We're okay with that.' Jim's mental presence was like sunshine on a spring day, inviting and warm to the skin.

'Yes we are, Leonard.' Spock thought at them, and punctuated this with a sensuous lick from the edge of McCoy's shoulder to the tip of his ear, causing both Leonard and Jim to shiver in pleasure.

"Ok, that was weird. Spock, I felt that."

"Telepathic feedback loop. I too felt myself lick my shoulder. It was... an odd sensation." He then proceeded to do it again. 'You taste good.'

Bones pulls out of their grip, a scowl forming on his features, "I turn you into creatures, who will have no choice but to watch as everything you hold dear dies and turns to dust before your eyes, and share with you my entire life story in the space of a few minutes, and all you can think about is sexing me up?" outrage was forming in his scowl.

"Bones..." Jim runs a hand through his dripping hair, looks at it still smeared in trace amounts of blood and stops. 'I almost died! Spock almost died! If you weren't what you are, what we are now, you'd have been dead years ago, and I'm sorry if you find this offensive, but I can't help but be grateful that those scientists created C-24, because without it we'd all be dead and we'd never have met you, fallen in love with you, or basically married you in a shower!'

The scowl slowly disappeared from his face as he listened to Jim, then his last sentence sank in and he started to smile, then chuckle, and after a minute was on the floor of the shower gasping for air between fits of laughter with Jim next to him and Spock standing above them confusion seeping into their minds along with a steadily rising eyebrow that was only fuelling the laughter.

"I fail to see the humour in Jim's statement."

"Spock... we just got married... in a shower... butt naked. Don't tell me that isn't hilarious," Bones managed between chuckles.

"I... see."

"No you don't. Give us a hand up Spock." Jim chuckled and held out his hand and, forgetting what happened last time, Spock lifted him and put him through the shower door. Glass littered the floor and blood seeped from the scratches across Jim's body.

Jim mock-glared at Spock, "Ow," he deadpanned, tiny cuts healed before he even finished the short word, and the laughter started again.

"I believe we may have to test our new abilities extensively and learn to control them, before we can return to duty."Spock said looking at his hand with pure fascination, a look usually reserved for fascinating, new experiments.

AN: These first six chapters have now been beta'd by the marvellous and awesome Catc10, she has basically made this a fantastic fic, if I do say so myself. Everyone thank her for fixing my childish writing and send your love her way, because without her this was a badly written, repetitive realisation of a tell and not show storey, now I'm proud to call it our brain child.