Title: Council of Three (2/2)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek TOS
Pairing: Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Summary: Jim and Spock have decided to woo the ship’s doctor.
Previous Part: 1

Leonard knows people well. Any training he has had in psychology simply enhances this talent of his.

So why, then, is it the one person he thinks he knows best has become the person he knows least? And—worse yet—the person he thought he didn’t know at all is someone he finds himself relating to?

There is something going on which Leonard cannot quite put his finger on. Something, he thinks, that Jim and Spock are up to together and that they’re attempting to involve him in.

What could they possibly be up to this time? He’s not certain he will make it through the suspense.

“Doctor?”

Leonard is pulled back to the present by one of the suspicious individuals in question. He says, as offhand as he can, “Just lost in my thoughts, Spock.” He narrows his eyes very slightly in his companion’s direction.

Said suspicious individual blinks his innocence in response to this scrutiny. “Shall I walk you back to Sickbay?” Spock asks.

It sounds more like a I want to walk you back to Sickbay rather than a polite offer from a colleague. The fact that it is coming from Spock makes the moment that much more surreal—and makes Leonard feel strangely glad.

He manages to keep the sappy sentiment to himself. “All right,” he concedes. “Thanks for the tour. I didn’t realize you had made a study of botany.”

“It is a science, although not one that I actively participate in. I do, however, enjoy knowledge for the sake of simply knowing it.”

“Me too,” murmurs the doctor. “It’s one of the greatest gifts we’re given in this universe, the ability to learn and to grow from learning.”

“Agreed.”

When they reach Sickbay, it is with some reluctance that Leonard parts ways with Spock. If deep in his heart he likes to think Spock felt that reluctance too, he whispers of his secret to no one.

~~~

The blaring of the klaxons is a distant sound to Jim Kirk’s ears. Hands locked on his chair’s armrests, he leans forward to study the subtle shifting of the battle cruiser on the bridge screen. “Heading one-fifty, mark eight!” he barks to his helmsman.

Phaser fire clips the Enterprise on her starboard side, shaking them all in their seats.

“Shields sixty percent and holding,” Spock informs him.

Uhura calls, “Captain, minor damage reported on decks nine and sixteen. Injuries on deck ten.”

Jim hears everything, even the low muttering of the lieutenant at the weapons station. “Lock phasers,” he orders.

“Captain,” his First interjects, “we cannot fire from our present range and expect to strike the target.”

“I know, Spock,” Jim replies, “but we need him to move.”

For all that the Enterprise is top-of-the-line in the Federation, the other ship is much smaller and therefore much lither. Their ship’s half-a-second delay puts them at a disadvantage—and these pirates know it.

Since they can’t outpace the cruiser, they will have to outsmart it.

Jim’s fingers curl into the hard surface of the chair. “Steady, steady…” he warns. “Aim for the side engine.” He counts out three seconds before crying, “Fire!”

The shot goes wide, as he knew it would.

The battle cruiser dances in close and pelts them with their phasers like a gleeful child taunting a big, clumsy adult.

“Deflector shields at fifty percent, Captain.”

“Return fire.”

The speaker in Jim’s chair crackles to life with a familiar and very irate voice: “Sickbay to Bridge! What’s going on up there?“

“Not now, Bones,” Jim says, not amused by the distraction.

McCoy’s voice snaps right back, “Captain, we got more patients coming in with head injuries from your wild space acrobatics than we have beds. Every time I try to fix one you knock ‘im to the floor! For god’s sake, at least keep the ship straight!“

“Noted, Doctor.” With the side of his fist, Jim hits the button to end the communication. “Ready a torpedo. Uhura, signal all decks to prepare for close-range impact of the blast.”

The cruiser wheels around, ready to dart in for its next attack.

Jim almost smiles. Your mistake, he thinks and braces himself for victory.

~~~

With the ship no longer tossing about both staff and patients, and everyone accounted for and attended to, Leonard finally has time for himself.

What a mess, he thinks as he tears open the corner of a gauze packet. He uses the pad to wipe the side of his face like a washcloth, glad his nurses are otherwise occupied. They would have something to say about him using supplies this way.

Not that he cares. It’s a sight better than walking around with blood on his face.

And his uniform—god, his uniform! What are the people in Laundry Services going to say when they see this tunic?

He’s muttering to himself when his office door slides open to admit a familiar figure in science blues.

“Doctor, contrary to your earlier complaint, it seems Sickbay is—”

Spock stops talking.

Because Leonard has never before heard Spock lose his words mid-sentence, the man turns to get a better look at his visitor.

One moment Spock is staring back, the next moment the Vulcan is close enough to be breathing in Leonard’s face.

“You are bleeding. Where are you injured?”

Spock must have crossed the room in the blink of Leonard’s eyes. Stunned, the doctor lets go of his stained gauze without a fight when Spock takes it between forefinger and thumb. Spock’s other hand encircles Leonard’s wrist.

As soon as Spock starts to haul him bodily toward the door, Leonard comes to his senses and plants his feet. “Now just a minute—what are you doing!”

“You are bleeding.” The words are oddly terse.

“I’m not bleeding!”

The look in the Vulcan’s eyes reads clearly do not lie to me, you foolish human.

Leonard amends, “I’m not bleeding anymore. It’s fine. It’s fixed.”

“Who attended you?”

Leonard tries to tug his wrist loose but fails and frowns. “This may come as a surprise to you, Spock, but I am a doctor. I attended myself.”

“Where was the injury?”

“It was a cut above the hairline.”

“Yet there is the substantial amount of blood on your person.”

“Head wounds can bleed profusely.”

“How did it happen?”

“How do you think, with this ship being manned like it’s on the high seas? I caught the edge of a biobed during a fall,” the doctor grumps.

“Have you been examined for non-visible injuries?”

Leonard finally succeeds in prying himself out of the Vulcan’s strong grip and warns him, “That’s enough, Spock. Go write a report about it if you have to, but let me be!”

Spock considers him a moment longer, as though weighing the embarrassment Leonard is likely to cause if the matter is pursued against his duty to verify the good health of the CMO.

Leonard helps make the decision for Spock by hurrying to sit down behind his desk. He then slides a stack of work PADDs into his line of vision and, clearing his throat, picks up the topmost one. When he sees it is a requisition form for half a dozen costly items, he tries not to grimace.

After Spock steps out of his office, Leonard doesn’t expect him to come back. Certainly he doesn’t expect the hobgoblin to come back with a shirt in hand.

Spock offers it to Leonard. “Nurse Chapel directed me to the supply unit where your department stores extra attire.”

“I suppose this is your not-so-subtle method of telling me I look terrible.”

Spock cocks his head in that infuriating way of his and asks, “Why would subtlety be necessary?”

Leonard takes the blue tunic with an exaggerated huff of annoyance. “Thanks anyway. Now scat! I don’t need an audience while I change.”

Spock finally leaves him alone.

As he tugs off his shirt and replaces it with a clean one, Leonard finds himself smiling.

The Vulcan is a nuisance, but at least he knows how to be a thoughtful nuisance on occasion.

~~~

The Officer’s Mess is loud, but not so loud that Jim cannot be heard by his lunch companion.

“What’s the catch?”

Jim widens his eyes. “Bones, it’s a simple invitation!”

For some reason this claim causes Leonard McCoy to look more suspicious. Time for a tactical retreat, decides Jim.

“We like your company,” he tells the man sitting next to him. He uses his fork to prod at the air for emphasis. “It’s a great idea.”

“And it’s becoming a popular one, it seems,” grumbles the other man. “Too popular. We’re having dinner together nearly every day now, and suddenly you want to force Spock along too?”

Jim is almost offended by that. “Nobody is forcing anybody.”

Leonard’s sideways glance at Kirk is considering. “I think we’d better cut lunch short, Jim, before this turns into a real fight.” He slides his tray forward and starts to stand up.

Jim catches the doctor’s arm, stilling the motion. “No,” he says firmly. “Sit down. We won’t fight.”

Leonard drops back into his seat and turns to Jim so they are face-to-face. “Listen, whatever it is you’re up to, you need to reconsider your strategy. I’m beginning to feel crowded.”

Jim lets go of Leonard to tap one of his fingers against his mouth. “Is our time together bothering you that much?”

Leonard’s shoulders curve downward into their habitual slump. “No… it’s not that exactly. We could share the same quarters, and I’d be fine with it.” Leonard doesn’t seem to notice the light that sparks in Jim’s eyes. “The not knowing why is what gets me—and you’re doing your darnedest to lead me away from an answer. I don’t like it!” He purses his mouth at the end of that last statement.

Jim returns his hand to the man’s forearm and squeezes it lightly. “I don’t know very many men would call out their captain on something they don’t like.”

“Well I’m not talking to my captain right now, am I?” comes the retort. “And there you go again with the deflection. Stop it.”

“I’m telling you all of the little things I like about you, Bones. Is that a crime?”

“It could be. You compliment me too much for somebody who doesn’t want anything in return.”

Jim lifts the corner of his mouth. “Did I say I didn’t want anything?”

“‘My lord!” his friend exclaims. “I swear, talking to the green-blooded hobgoblin is easier than talking with you these days.”

“Very good,” Jim murmurs, and Leonard gives him a strange look. “So, about that dinner with Spock…”

“Oh, fine—I give in. But only because one of us needs to know when to quit. Clearly that isn’t you, Captain.”

“I thought I was Jim.”

“I changed my mind. Let’s discuss that new imaging scanner Medical needs.”

Jim turns his attention back to his mostly untouched food. “Ship’s business it is, then,” he replies amiably and proceeds to eat with gusto. Between mouthfuls he says, “Scanners are expensive.”

“Sure they are, but you’ll feel a damned sight better next time you need a BCP knowing the device you’re attached to isn’t likely to invert your gamma and delta waves.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“It isn’t, which is why I sent a polite missive to the Surgeon General detailing why the entire series needs to be recalled and the supplier sued down to their last credit. This is the twenty-third century for god’s sake! We’re supposed to be advanced enough that we can fix brain tumors, not cause ’em.”

Jim chuckles. He can imagine how polite that missive was. “Where’s the req? I’ll sign it.”

“Ask your yeoman. I submitted it over a week ago.”

Their conversation carries on from there, and their meal together remains undisturbed. Jim is in a great mood by the end of the lunch date. He thinks Leonard is too.

~~~

After the honored guest of the evening has excused himself from the Captain’s quarters, Jim sits back in his chair and studies the Vulcan across the table. Spock selects a rook on the chess board and moves it to the second level.

“I didn’t know Vulcans understood the concept of a serenade,” Jim remarks, tone informal.

How come I didn’t get serenaded? he doesn’t add. He can imagine that would probably sound a bit petulant to Spock.

“Jim, if you are inquiring as to why I have not played a musical instrument in order to appeal to your senses, it is because you do not require the enticement.”

“I’m not opposed to a little seduction, Spock.”

“I am aware of this fact. However, is it not true that you prefer to be the seducer and not the seduced?”

Jim moves one of his pawns, admitting, “It’s true.”

Spock barely glances at the board. “You will be checkmated in four moves.”

Jim catches Spock’s gaze and holds it. “What if I implemented a more aggressive approach?”

The Vulcan raises one eyebrow. “Such as?”

“Physical contact.”

“Define the parameters of this contact.”

“Close proximity. Intimate. Possibly arousing.”

“A kiss, if brief and discreet, is the least likely to upset him.”

Jim runs a thumb across his lower lip. He prefers to put substantial effort into his kissing. But Spock is right, of course. Bones may just knock him senseless and then schedule him for a psychological exam. “Then you’ll have to do it.”

Spock lifts both his eyebrows this time. “I do not think my playing the lyre for Leonard places me in a position to initiate a such personal gesture.”

“It could be a kiss of affection, like you said.”

“Jim, your suggestion is not reasonable at this point in time.”

Jim crosses his arms. “So you’re saying I have to be the one to try for affectionate but not…”

“Acutely amorous.”

“Wonderful,” Jim says dryly. “Could you possibly make the task more difficult?”

“Try not to over-think it,” Spock tells him, sounding very Bones-like, “and you will be successful.”

~~~

“Bones.”

“Quiet,” Jim is told.

Leonard does not slow his pace. Jim lengthens his stride to keep up.

He tries again. “Bones, it was just a—”

Jim is unceremoniously jerked into the nearest turbolift by his wrist. Only once the door is closed, the two officers are alone and the lift is en route to Sickbay does Leonard McCoy round on him and demand, “What the hell is the matter with you?”

Jim cannot help but bristle in response.

“Have you lost what little sense you’ve got? My god, Jim! You don’t do that, and certainly not in the middle of a public corridor!”

Jim counters, “Why not?”

The look in Leonard’s eyes changes, then. He says, voice quieter but still intense, “Who are you?”

Jim grabs the man’s shoulders, intending to give him a shake, but Leonard pushes him back.

“Right now I don’t know you,” the man says, “so I’ll ask you not to touch me.”

His friend could have struck him and Jim thinks he would have been less surprised. He takes a step back and notices for the first time how truly tense Leonard is.

His anger vanishes. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes. “Bones, what…?” But there isn’t a point in asking; he knows what he did. He just hadn’t expected a reaction like this. “I’m sorry,” he says again.

Leonard steps back and leans against the wall. “Stop the lift.”

Jim orders it to halt. Sickbay is five decks away. The two men lock eyes.

“You kissed me,” Leonard says.

“Yes.” Jim pauses. “It was affectionate.”

But Leonard disagrees. “You don’t kiss people as a sign of affection, Jim. You touch them. You might even hug them. But I’d bet a month’s salary you haven’t once done something like drop a kiss on top of a child’s head or drawn someone in and pressed your lips to their cheek simply because you were feeling friendly.”

In truth, Jim cannot think of a time when he has done either of those things.

Leonard crosses his arms. “Tell me in plain words what it is you’re after. If you don’t, I’ll have to mark this down as another aberration of your behavior.”

“Another?”

“You’ve been acting very strange lately, Jim. I’m worried I might have to actually file a report about it one of these days.”

Jim looses a long breath. “Damn.”

Leonard’s arms drop back to his sides. “Can you tell me?”

“If I said I’m embarrassed, could we let it go at that?”

“No.”

“Damn,” Jim says again. Then, “All right, Bones, you win.” Looking at the man, he realizes what in theory seems difficult is really just a matter of being honest. “The thing is, I like you.”

Leonard looks at him strangely. “I know that, Jim.”

“I see,” Jim says, certain Leonard doesn’t understand his meaning at all. “Then you also know I like you enough to kiss you.”

Both of Leonard’s eyebrows rise a little. The doctor opens his mouth as if to speak but closes it too suddenly. He stares at Jim.

“And you were right,” Jim adds. “I don’t give platonic kisses.”

“Jim… Jim, I don’t know what to say.”

Spock would know how to handle this, Jim thinks. “You don’t need to say anything.” He glances toward the closed turbolift door then looks back at Leonard. “Bones, are you truly shocked?”

Leonard presses his mouth flat. “I don’t know.”

Silence lingers between them for a moment before Jim asks, “Have I upset you?”

Leonard sighs as he crosses his arms, his expression hinting that he isn’t certain he likes his answer. “I’m not upset.”

Greatly relieved, Jim jokes, “Are you at least flattered?”

Leonard quirks his mouth. “To have caught the eye of James Tiberius Kirk? Well now, I wouldn’t say I thought it was impossible.” At the look on Jim’s face, he amends, “Although to be fair, I guess most people think it’s flattering to be the object of someone’s passing fancy.”

“Two things,” Jim says, lifting two fingers to make his point. “First, do not assume I am the only one on this ship who’s interested in you.”

“What?”

Jim lowers one finger. “Second, I think I have to take offence at ‘passing fancy’. When I say I like you, I mean I have long-since realized I’m in love with you, Bones. I’m not feeling whimsical, and I’m not about to take it back.” He lowers his hand.

It’s a long moment before Leonard replies to that. He says at last, “We can’t have this conversation in a turbolift.”

Jim nods and clears his throat. “Computer, resume to destination.”

Leonard turns his attention toward the floor of the lift, the Adam’s apple of his throat bobbing.

Jim waits a few seconds before saying, “We do need to talk, Bones.”

“Not in Sickbay.”

“I know. I have to head to the Bridge anyway. My quarters, this evening?”

Leonard shakes his head slightly. “No.” The ship’s computer announces their arrival, and the turbolift’s door opens. “My quarters,” he tells Jim. Then the man steps onto the deck. “See you then.” He doesn’t look back at Jim.

Jim waits until he is in the lift by himself to drop his head into his hands.

~~~

“Interesting,” Spock says when Jim calls him into the Ready Room and gives him a brief rundown of the encounter with Leonard. “I feel it is significant he wishes to have the discussion in his quarters but I confess I cannot discern why.”

Jim has considered that already. “There’s something a professor from one of my classes at the Academy remarked on that always stayed with me, Spock. He said when it comes to forming an alliance between two hostile parties, there is nothing stronger than a literal common ground. That is why a summit is held at a neutral location, somewhere which all parties can respect and in which they will either have an equal stake or no stake at all.”

“What was the class?”

“Foundations of Diplomacy. A requirement for those cadets on an advanced command track.”

“There were some courses which seemed to me redundant, but that is because I am Vulcan and was therefore exposed to the same subjects at an earlier age by my tutors.”

Jim unfolds his arms. “You were tutored? I thought you attended school with the other Vulcan children.”

“For a time I did,” Spock says but offers no other information.

Jim doesn’t press him for details. His mind is still captured by the problem at hand. “You’re coming with me, aren’t you?”

“I have not been invited, Jim.”

“I’m extending the invitation to include a plus-one.” He lays a hand on Spock’s arm. “Spock, I can’t do this without you. I shouldn’t do it without you. You’re invested in the outcome as much as I am.”

“Leonard may not be aware of that fact.”

“Then let us enlighten him,” Jim says with his usual spark of determination.

~~~

Leonard’s first thought as he looks at himself in the bathroom mirror is that he is visibly nervous. He cannot stand to see himself in such a state so he breathes deeply and forces his normally steady hands to relax.

“It’s just Jim,” he pep-talks his reflection. “Jim is a very good friend, and somehow or other Jim’s got it in his head he wants you. Your job is to talk him out of it.”

His reflection frowns.

“Don’t look at me like that,” tuts Leonard. “You are not to take advantage of the situation! You’re a doctor, not a—a schoolboy pining after his first crush!”

He lays a hand across of his eyes. “Lord, how did it come to this? I knew this ship was gonna turn me into a basket case someday.” He hears the buzzer announcing the arrival of a guest to his quarters.

Leonard exits the bathroom, wiping his palms along the legs of his pants as he goes. “Enter,” he calls, and for a second his voice cracks. It’s embarrassing. He really shouldn’t have allowed himself so much time to think about what he has to say. Or what he could say, if all of his common sense decides to desert him.

He fully expects Jim to march into the room, ready to do battle to get whatever it is he wants; but Leonard doesn’t expect a Vulcan to be hot on Jim’s heels.

“I was invited by the Captain,” Spock says preemptively when their eyes meet.

Leonard has no words.

Jim gives him one of his patented sympathetic-but-this is how it is, Bones smiles. “I did mention someone else on the ship liked you,” he says. “So I brought him.”

This is the point at which Leonard’s brain decides to short-circuit. Unfortunately, his mouth never had a good connection to his brain to begin with.

He explodes, “Are you both out of your minds?!”

~~~

Jim and Spock share a look. There are times when they don’t need words to understand each other’s thoughts. This is one of those times.

Jim circles left. Spock circles right. The movements are casual, almost like the men are drifting, but the intent becomes clear. Leonard, caught in the middle, seems to be having trouble deciding which one to watch.

Jim stops abreast of Leonard. “Bones, let me ask you a question.”

“No,” Leonard responds immediately.

Jim smiles at him. “If you had to decide which one of us—Spock and myself, that is—you liked better, who would it be?”

Leonard doesn’t answer.

Jim glances past the doctor to the Vulcan. “It would be Spock, right?”

Spock, hands clasped behind his back, tilts his head. “The logical choice would be you, Jim. Doctor McCoy himself told me it is my inability to act more human which bothers him. Therefore he would be more likely to feel a greater affection for a full-blooded human.”

They both hear Leonard suck in a breath. When the man pivots on the ball of his foot and starts toward a door across the room, Jim catches his arm to prevent the escape.

“But, Spock,” he argues, “I gave Bones a kiss and he turned me down.”

“Jim!” Leonard sounds appalled.

“And you know,” Jim goes on to say, “I’ve noticed that when he isn’t in my company, he’s in yours. I think I have a reason to be jealous.”

“Should I also be jealous?” Spock inquiries.

Jim asks in return, “Can you feel jealousy?”

“I believe in this case I would allow it.”

“Why?” The word bursts out of Leonard; his curiosity seems to have gotten the better of him.

Jim privately enjoys that small victory.

Spock faces Leonard. “My reasoning and my reactions should be based in logic, not driven by emotion. That is the Vulcan way. Yet it does not preclude the possibility that emotion is logical. That is why Vulcans have never lost their enjoyment of the fine arts; it is why Vulcans can bond with their marriage partners and take pride in their children. You were correct when you said we are not so different as a people. I can desire what Jim desires when I know that desire is based on the most logical emotion of all.”

“You know what it is, Bones,” Jim says gently.

Leonard looks at him.

Jim slides his hand down to McCoy’s and squeezes it.

“Love,” Leonard answers.

“Yes,” confirms Spock, whose arm reaches out. He holds two fingers aloft.

Jim meets those fingers with his own, eyes shining with happiness.

Leonard stares at Jim and Spock’s touching fingertips and makes a soft noise. “I expected that,” he says.

Jim threads the fingers of his other hand through Leonard’s and lifts the interlocked hands for both of them to see. “But you didn’t expect this?”

“How was I supposed to?” the man complains. “I’m not a mind-reader like Spock.”

“There was no need to read Jim’s thoughts,” Spock explains. “His motives were very apparent from the beginning. He invited me much too frequently to his quarters. The dinners were unnecessarily elaborate, and he would play an intriguing game of chess only to sacrifice his Queen at the end.”

“Jim.” Leonard’s voice is filled with exasperation and fondness. “Well I have to say, Spock, considering he’s supposed to be a legendary charmer, his tactics are very frightfully un-inventive.”

“Agreed.”

Jim lets go of both men. “Wait a minute. You can’t insult me like that!”

Leonard exchanges a look with Spock. Then he locks his hands behind his back and rocks back on his heels, announcing, “I’ve decided. I do like Spock better.”

“No, you don’t,” Jim argues.

“Spock can play ‘Georgia on My Mind’ on his lute.” Leonard eyes Jim. “What can you do?”

Jim Kirk has never been one to waste a good opportunity.

Leonard appears to realize his mistake the moment Jim latches onto him and drags him forward. The man protests, “Jim!”

Jim kisses him anyway. When he finally decides to release Leonard, he is satisfied it’s likely to be his most legendary kiss to-date.

Leonard, flushed from head to toe, drags the back of his hand across his mouth. “Spock, get this fool outta my quarters right now.”

“As Jim is currently moving towards your sleeping cabin and removing his shirt, I doubt he intends to leave.”

“I don’t come here often enough,” Jim calls over his shoulder. “We’ll have to change that, Bones!”

“I didn’t accept your proposal!” Leonard hollers back.

“But you did accept mine, Leonard,” Spock replies, and Jim grins upon hearing it. “It was our intention to tell you that if you accepted either of us, you would have both, as Jim and I are already committed to each other.”

“That’s the most convoluted love triangle I’ve ever heard of, Spock!”

“It is not a triangle,” Spock says.

Jim drops to the edge of the bed and pulls off his boots, finishing to himself, “It’s a triumvirate.” He raises his voice. “Bones, Spock—get in here! I’ll show you what else this legendary Kirk can do.”

The voices from behind the partition are lower than before but not faint enough that Jim cannot hear the murmurs between his two favorite people.

Bones is griping, “I’ve been in a relationship with him for less than a minute, and already I don’t think I can take it.”

“It has been said that a burden is easier to bear if one is willing to share it.”

“True enough, hobgoblin. We’ve each had half of this particular burden for a while.” A short silence ensues. Then, “Did you really mean what you said?”

“Yes.”

“Good, ’cause I want to go to the observation deck.”

…Wait, the observation deck?

Jim sits up from where he had draped himself across Leonard’s bed. He hears, “I will be most pleased to accompany you.”

The murmurs fade. So does the sound of footsteps in the outer cabin. Jim realizes in that moment Bones and Spock have actually left him in the bed by himself. With a curse, he snatches up his boots and shirt and hurriedly puts them back on.

They’re not leaving him behind!

He flings himself around the partition—

—and stops.

“Glad you’re dressed,” Leonard says, standing next to Spock by the door leading to the corridor. “We’re going out. Want to come along?”

Jim narrows his eyes. “You tricked me.”

Wordlessly Spock looks from Jim to Leonard and then turns around and walks out the door.

Jim goes to Leonard’s side, his annoyance already gone. He studies the man.

“Are we good?” he asks after a moment.

“For now,” his friend replies.

Jim places a hand on McCoy’s shoulder. “We can make this work, Bones,” he promises.

Leonard covers Jim’s hand with his own. “I might hold you to that, Jim.”

“I expect you to.”

They leave the room too and join Spock in the hallway. From there, it’s a much simpler journey to where they want to be.

The End

Related Posts:

• Council of Three (1/2) – from January 7, 2014

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