Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek and no matter how much I love Bones, I don't make any money off of him.

Summary: This is a tale about the friendship/brotherhood of Bones, Kirk and Spock. No romance between them, Jim belongs to Spock and we all know it.

This came to me while I was at work and I just let it flow. Ain't the best, but oh well.

I don't why I've got a thing for hurting Spock… Maybe it's to get back at him for dating Uhura in the movie? I dunno.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Brothers

Life on a Star Ship was hard, but Bones had to admit life on a Star Ship with James T. Run-In-With-Guns-Blazing Kirk was harder. But Bones already had years of experience in handling situations that should only be found in text books. Jim was his best friend. They had met on the shuttle on the way to the academy and had been inseparable since. Just when Bones thought the whole damn world had turned its back on him leaving him in the cold all alone, the bright spot known as Jim Kirk appeared. From that moment forward Bones had basked in the light that Jim gave off. He would have followed that damn man to any where he'd gotten the notion to go, still would only now he'd have to move over to let Spock have room to accompany them. Spock also made his hectic life on the Enterprise easier. Spock was the logical First Officer who tried to keep Jim from doing anything too stupid. And they were like the Three Musketeers that Sulu talked about when he got drunk. They were all for one and one for all, hail the Captain.

Bones was brought out of his reverie by the comm. unit buzzing. "McCoy here." He responded to the hail.

"This is Scotty. Dr. McCoy, you might need to head down to the transporter room. There has been an accident on the surface and several of the away team has been injured. Captain thinks that Spock has been injured the worst and I can't beam them directly to Med Bay. The atmosphere is rough down there and I need a proper receiving pad. I'm beaming them up now." Scotty was talking so fast that Bones almost couldn't understand thru the Scottish brogue.

"I'm on my way." Bones ran out of the Med Bay to find Chappell waiting with a portable bio-bed. He really needed to ask her how she knew everything so fast, but now was not the time. He led the group of nurses towards the transporter room, flying past several stunned crewmen. Bones mind was turning different scenarios over in his head mainly those that involved a Kirk-style diplomatic meeting crazy just like all the other times he had been requested in the transporter room.

What ever thought Bones had been forming in his head about treating the away team's injuries faded when the transporter room door opened for them. Several red shirts were clutching bleeding wounds and some of the science team was even injured. But the worst of all was the gray Vulcan that Jim was holding in his arms whose green blood was smeared on both the blue and red tunics. Bones took Spock from Jim himself and placed him gently on Chappell's biobed. He was dead weight, unconscious and he did not feel any where as warm as normal. Spock never got hurt, Bones tried not to let the shock he was feeling take over his responses. He quickly assessed the rest of the medics' patients, assuring himself that they would be fine to attend to the wounds without him. Chappell ran a tricorder over Spock to try to gain some insight into what had happened to the beloved Vulcan. The tricorder had started beeping at its critical findings. Bones swung around and Chappell held up the values. He and Chappell hurried to get Spock back to Med Bay with Jim trailing behind them.

"You mind telling me what the hell happened down there so I know exactly what I need to be looking for?" Bones was gruff. "He's temperature is dropping, he's bleeding internally and he's got some broken bones." They rushed thru the Med Bay doors and straight into Bay Four. Bones was trying to plan his course of action while Chappell started getting out all instrumentation he might need to treat the patient.

"Those bastards started throwing punches around. But not just with their fists, they started using some strange mineral rock. Some how Spock got in-between them and me and took all the hits that were thrown my way. He held them off while I re-established contact with Scotty. They beat the living hell out of him, Bones, and he let them so they wouldn't be able to touch me." Jim was standing up against the wall because if he let go he would have fallen to the ground. All of his energy had been sapped right out of him the moment he had seen how beaten and bloody Spock was. Spock had saved him yet again from danger and now he was paying the price for it.

Bones could hear the hurt in Jim's voice without turning around. "I believe he is going into a healing trance. Vulcans enter those when they are injured. That would explain his temperature dropping so suddenly and his unconsciousness. I will help his healing as much as I can, he should be alright." Bones swapped a look with Chappell that spoke volumes. He needed her to get Jim checked out while he worked on Spock. "Jim, let Christine help you to a bio bed. We need to make sure you weren't injured. It's what Spock would want us to do." Once again Bones didn't turn around. One because if he turned Jim would argue, two because if he turned he would see the heartbreak on Jim's face and three because he really needed to focus on Spock.

Jim allowed Christine to usher him to a near by bed without complaint. He knew Bones was right, Spock would want to make sure that no harm had befallen him since he had allowed himself to be beaten to insure it. Christine made no effort to converse. She helped him lie back on the bed and began waving the tricorder over Jim's body. By the time she was done, Jim's eyes were closing in exhaustion. Just the short amount of time off ship and the danger they had encountered was enough to wear down the captain's usually endless supply of adrenaline. Christine covered him with a light sheet and dimmed the lights in the bay. He would allow himself a short rest because he knew Bones was taking care of Spock and Bones had said that Spock would be fine. Bones would not let anything happen to the rest of the trio. Jim always felt safer when his two best friends were close. They were the only people in this big, black, dark void of space that loved him and he loved them right back. Slowly he let himself remember the happier times for the trio as he slipped off for a nap.

Bones had finished repairing the damage to Spock's internal organs and skin abrasions. It had taken him just over two hours to make sure that everything was back to the text-book example of Vulcan physiology that Spock had been just three hours previous. Spock was still in his trance and would remain under for the rest of the night atleast if not tomorrow as well. Vulcans took time in their trances to allow the body to heal and the mind to lock away any emotion that the event might have inflected upon them. "I know you can't hear me in there but I just wanted to thank you for protecting our hard-headed Captain. But don't get in the habit of breaking yourself because you are hard as hell to put back together." Bones allowed himself a small smile at Spock's completely relaxed face. Deciding this was the best time to say what had been bottled up inside for ages he quietly added. "And just so you know you Hobgoblin, I love you as much as I love him, you are my friend, forever and always." He gently pulled the sheet up over Spock and tucked his friend in for the night dimming the lights.

After he was finally reassured that Spock would be alright, Bones found where Jim had fallen asleep in the next bay. Jim looked relaxed and untroubled in his sleep. Bones eased down into the chair next to his bed and gently took his hand in his own. Tonight would be another night added to the long list of times he had sat vigil at the bedside of Jim or Spock, but one of the few at both. Chappell had reported to Bones during his work on Spock that Jim was not injured, but Bones needed to see for himself. Jim was one of the few people in the universe that Bones went to hell and back to make sure they were safe. He was a nervous wreck any time they were on away missions, knowing that at any second Jim's life could be in danger. He knew that Spock felt the same way. That might be why either both commanding officers or even all three ended up going together, to make sure Jim would not be put in harm's way.

Bones allowed his mind to wander down the nostalgic lane of the story of their friendship as he gently ran this thumb over the back of Jim's hand. He was not a commanding officer of the Enterprise, nor was he one of the most recognized faces in Star Fleet. He was just Bones McCoy. He was the shoulder that Jim leaned on for support and the shoulder that caught Spock when he fell. He was the best friend of the Golden Command Duo. He loved them no matter what. It didn't matter than one's father had died to save him or that the other was a half-breed, that one had been a delinquent until age 22 or that one had defiled his father's wishes, he loved these men because of who these men were in their own right. This was not a flamboyant love that they spoke volumes about to everyone. This was a personal love that flowed in the undercurrent of their actions towards one another. This was the love of brothers. Bones was the oldest that cared for them, the middle Spock that protected them and the youngest Jim that shone the brightest and loved the deepest holding the other two brothers together. These warm thoughts saw Bones into a light slumber still holding Jim's hand until the morning.

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Is this the end? Hit the review button and tell me if you want it continued or not!