Chapter 3: Is It Really the End?

Muffled voices trickled into his subconscious, growing louder and merging together until they almost overwhelmed him. He fought to wake up, despite the pain in his head that was growing more and more real with each second that he fought. Memories swirling back to him of the recent chaos made him push harder.

He opened his eyes to see Spock in front of him. Was he still by the warp core reactor? Wait...no, Christine Chapel was there, and Bones too. Had he been captured?

"Jim, you're back! Are you okay?"

Well, that didn't sound too insane. What was going on?

"You've been out for about a day. Scott said the ship bucked funny in the solar wind or something-"

"The correct terminology-"

"Spock, I'm a doctor, not an engineer!" Bones spat before continuing with his story like nothing had happened. "And somehow, you hit your head during it. I don't know how you managed to do it, Jim, but you always do. You feeling alright now? Scans are looking pretty positive for you, given everything, but I want to know how you're feeling, not the scanners."

Kirk groaned as he sat up, holding his head and blinking to clear his vision of Sickbay. Scientist, doctor, and nurse looked at him expectantly. Would he be able to talk?

He accepted the cup of water Bones offered him and slowly cleared his throat. The odd sound that escaped his mouth was first shocking and then hilarious, but soon he managed to speak normally. His original difficulty must have been purely psychological.

"You sure you're alright, Captain?" Christine teased with a laugh.

"Quite alright, thank you, Christine," Kirk replied with a Spockian eyebrow. She blushed but laughed to herself anyway, casting Spock a quick glance before returning her attention to the current conversation.

"So how are you feeling, Jim?" McCoy pressed.

"I'm...fine," Kirk replied, not sure how to put everything to words. "I had the strangest dream..."

He noticed the quick look Bones exchanged with Spock. What did that mean?

"A dream, Jim? What kind of dream?" McCoy asked, his brow already furrowing.

"It was just a weird nightmare, Bones, nothing more. What's the problem? Why is this such a big deal to you?"

"Erm..." McCoy cleared his throat. "Did it by any chance have to do with that video game you were playing earlier?"

Kirk frowned instantly. "What video game?"

McCoy groaned as he shuffled around in his medical equipment. "Figures," he muttered under his breath. "Concussion like that, he's gonna lose some memory. I'll have to run a test to be sure, but the amnesia should only be temporary..."

"Bones, what are you talking about?" Kirk demanded, trying to lift himself up to a better sitting position in the Sickbay bed. "What memory loss? I remember hitting the solar flare, and you said I got knocked out after that. What more is there for me to remember?"

Bones shook his head and pulled up a chair. "Jim, first off, relax," he started. "Moving around like that won't help you. You still need more rest and treatment, so for Pete's sake, calm down." When Kirk had settled and fixed an impatient, demanding glare on his doctor, McCoy turned to Spock. "You want to explain?" he asked. "You know more than I do on this one."

Raising an eyebrow, Spock assented and began. "Jim, while you were unconscious I attempted a mind-meld to bring you back. While within your mind, I realized that you were having a dream of sorts, but I could not see fully into it; I also did not understand the references within it that I could see. I looked back further into your mind and found the reference source." Spock titled his head slightly, perhaps trying to hide some amusement. "Apparently, you had played two ancient Earth games for several hours straight before showing up for your shift on the day of your injury. I believe they were called Portal and Portal 2."

Sufficient to say, the memory flashed back to the now-embarrassed Captain Kirk.

Spock's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, a clear sign that he found the whole situation humorous. "I proceeded to try to enter your dream and, using the same reference source, lead you out. I was apparently successful, as after I did so, you woke up soon after."

Kirk coughed and tried to think of what to say. "I...thank you, Spock. I appreciate your help." He trailed off as he glanced at McCoy and hastily added, "Er, you too, Bones. Thank you. I-erm. I've got to say, I'm just a little embarrassed about the game. It was very addicting. I know I should've been filling out some reports for you, Bones, but you know they weren't really due yet anyway, and I figured they could wait a couple days or so, and really I got the games as a gift so I couldn't just not play them..." He glanced at both of his best friends and finished, "Yeah, I'm just gonna stop talking now."

McCoy broke out laughing, and even Spock's mouth twitched a little.

"It's alright, Jim," McCoy chuckled, "but next time, can you please play it in a shorter streak so you're awake for your shift and don't have disturbing hallucinations about it when you get a concussion? Because really Jim, you get a lot of concussions. And I heard I was quoting something about combustible lemons?" The look of confusion on his face was priceless. "Combustible lemons," he said again, trying to understand it. He shook his head; it was hopeless. "I really don't want to know, do I?"

Spock's other eyebrow joined the first. "At least, Doctor, you were not seen as the secretive and technically silent character in the game who had an apparent descent into madness."

McCoy's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He turned to glance at Jim, who was too shocked by everything that had happened to say anything meaningful. "Well Jim, I guess we all know how you see Spock now." Kirk tried opening his mouth to interrupt, but McCoy beat him. "Say, Spock, why don't you give me a quick lesson about the game and his dream? I'd like to see how Jim really looks at all of us onboard this ship..."

"No, don't! I mean, it was just a dream, a hallucination; it isn't what I actually think, and-"

It was too late. Clearly Spock and McCoy were going to side against him on this one.

McCoy grinned widely. "Don't worry, Jim, I won't use it against you. There's no way I'd be angry at you for not filling out your paperwork and playing a video game instead. Or not giving me my winnings yet from our card game. Or dodging around your physical again for the third time this month."

Kirk groaned.

"I also have no quarrel with you, Captain," Spock spoke up, his eyes shining and his voice a tad lighter than usual. "After all, it is illogical to hold grudges against someone. Even if said someone has shirked reading their Science Officer's thesis on their latest planetary exploration, or perhaps has not given their second in command the winnings from the chess game he insisted on betting on."

McCoy's grin got wider and wider as Spock talked, knowing exactly where he was going with it. Kirk visibly shrank.

"It is, however, logical to seek appropriate justice. Especially if those in charge of distributing said justice know exactly how to make the situation humorous to crew-members without causing insults. And if it increases morale onboard the ship..."

"Noooo. I'm doomed."

"Exactly, Jim," McCoy broke in with a mischievous smile on his face. "But don't worry. We'll have fun with it. Who knows, you might even learn a lesson about gaming too much. And best of all, I think I'll be able to get Spock to crack a smile while we do it." He rubbed his hands in glee.

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Highly unlikely, Doctor," he replied dryly.

McCoy snorted. "Don't talk to me like that. I'll get a combustible lemon to burn your house down!"

Even Spock had to crack a faint smile at that.

oooooOOOOOOOooooo

From a place high up, out of the sight of any mere creatures such as those onboard the Enterprise, an certain quasi-omnipotent being chuckled to himself.

He just couldn't resist playing Kirk; it really was too much fun. Causing the ship to buck in such a way as to give Kirk the perfect concussion for the dream had been quite entertaining, to say nothing of the dream and repercussions themselves. Of course he'd allow the man to heal quickly, as he had already started doing. But the quicker Kirk healed, the quicker he could mess with him again.

And was there anything better than that?

Thank you so much for reading, and please review! I personally loved writing this story, and I hoped you guys loved reading it, too.

*Note I left out the swear word in Cave Johnson's quote on purpose. I just don't want to swear here, my preference. Just to let you know I do know what it really says. No worries! Also, the being at the end...well, who that is is up to you. ;)