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San Francisco, December 2259
“So, you’re graduating.” Jim indicated the holopacket that had just been delivered from the Academy.
“I’ve got more degrees than a thermometer.” Bones joked. “What’s one more? I think they gave it to me for keeping quiet about defeating death because I certainly haven’t been to classes recently.” Bones tossed it on the counter. He found that he cared much less about the degree now, on the other side of their most recent jaunt into space.
“Does it say that, you know, on the actual diploma?” Still less energetic than usual and a bit pale, Jim sat propped on pillows on the sofa in their new apartment, provided by Starfleet, far nicer than what lowly officers would have usually gotten. The apartment was tastefully, if impersonally, decorated, and boasted lovely views of the bay. There were some benefits for saving the world. Again.
Bones headed into the kitchen to warm up soup for Jim’s lunch, glancing up at him over the half wall. He didn’t like to take his eyes off of Jim for very long.
“So you’re ready to take on your next assignment?” Jim asked, a slight smirk on his face.
Bones flashed back to their conversation the morning after Jim’s half-birthday celebration, the morning of the day the world had gone completely to hell. “I guess.”
“And will that job be in research or in space?” Jim asked, waiting. His brush with death had given Jim a stillness and patience that wasn’t there before, like he’d finally learned he didn’t have all the answers and didn’t need to.
“I don’t know.” Bones admitted, staring at Jim, the half-warm mushroom soup forgotten. Bones did not love space. But he loved Jim. And Jim loved space. As soon as Bones gave him medical clearance, Jim would be itching to go back to the black. And then Bones would have to make a choice.
“Let’s go on a road trip. It’ll be a graduation gift.” Jim suggested as Bones brought him the soup, along with crackers and an apple. After fetching his own lunch, Bones sat across from him.
“A road trip?”
“Yeah, I want to drive across country.”
“Well, since you can barely walk to the bathroom unassisted, that sounds perfect. Will we ride across country on the backs of our unicorns or should we take the pegasus out for a spin?”
“You’re hilarious. We can take my dad’s old car.” Jim waggled the keys. “Do you know how to drive?”
“In December? You want to do this in December?” Bones glanced out at the silver fog rolling in over the bay, beginning to obscure the bay bridge. In moments, they could have been floating in their own personal cloud.
“Bones, I can’t handle being cooped up here anymore. It’s almost the holidays. Let’s hit the road and have some fun.”
“You’re not recovered enough for a drive like that.” Bones shook his head.
“Fortunately, I plan to take my doctor along.” Jim winked at him.
“We are not going to New Vegas.” Bones said and then winced when Jim smiled. He knew he’d won when Bones opened negotiations on travel destinations. Damn tactical genius kid.
“Fine. I want to see the Grand Canyon.” Jim agreed.
“What’s so exciting about a hole in the ground? That’s what I want to know…”
* * *
Somewhere driving through Oklahoma…
“Bones?” Bones drove George Kirk’s very fine red corvette convertible along the rolling ribbon of blacktop. For the moment, he’s won the endless music negotiation so bluegrass blasts out of the stereo instead of Jim’s preferred rock and roll. The sky outside perfectly matched Jim’s eyes as they raced past fallow cornfields and farms dotted with actual real live farm animals. With the top down, the wind and the sun put some color in both of their faces. Jim slouched in the passenger seat, idly playing with Bones’ right hand. “The thing I don’t understand is this. How did Khan’s blood save me?”
“It healed your cells at the molecular level.” Bones knew that Jim isn’t as strong at science as he is at tactics and diplomacy but he is a genius. He should get this by now.
Jim went quiet for so long that Bones thought he must have fallen asleep. “On Kronos…I tried to punch him, to knock him out. I was so angry then, Bones. So heartbroken. I’m not proud of it.” Bones just nodded. He understood. “But, it just had no effect on Khan at all. Nothing.”
“Right. I suspect that has something to do with the eugenics program, kid.” Bones shifted in the seat and clasped their fingers together. He doesn’t much like talking about this, dredging up the worst two weeks of his life. But, he understood that Jim needed answers so he let him keep talking.
“So, the eugenics made him like…”
“A superman.” Bones nodded.
“So, am I…” Jim trailed off and Bones glanced over at him.
“Yeah, kid. I got your cape in the back. Let me find a phone booth for you to change in.” Bones laughed and then glimpsed Jim’s wide-eyed face. “Darlin’ you are many things but you are not a super hero. I didn’t change your DNA any when I created the serum.”
“You created? I thought…”
“What? You thought the pointy eared hobgoblin did it all by himself?”
“No, I just…I didn’t know you’d left the hospital.” Jim shrugged and Bones saw the hurt on his face.
“You weren’t in the hospital then, kid. You were in a cryotube, in the sickbay, on the Enterprise, with me.”
“You froze me?”
“Like a chicken dinner.”
“That’s not funny.”
“Am I laughing? Worst two weeks of my life.” Bones swallowed. He can’t bear to think about it for very long.
“So, how long was I frozen for?”
“Took me about three days to create enough serum. We defrosted you then and started the transfusion. Khan helped.”
“Khan helped you?”
“Yeah. Spock and Uhura too. You know, I think Khan really liked you, in the end. Forgave you for double crossing him at any rate. Plus, I had his crew. I think he knew full well that I wasn’t bluffing when I said I’d end every last one of them. So, he gave me the blood I needed and helped me make the serum.”
“Bones, you are a bad ass mother f…”
“No, I was just desperate. And thinking a lot about what you would do. And, well, I’m not saying that I condone what Khan did. But I do understand it.”
Jim just blinked at him, amazement in his eyes. “Bones, I don’t think you told me the full story here.”
“No. And I probably never will. It was awful, Jim. Do you remember when I took that blood sample from him on the ship, right after Kronos?” Jim nodded. “Well, then you remember me making a tactical error.”
Jim sorted through his memories. “Oh, you asked him how he knew about the warp core failure, right?”
“Yeah. And then, in turn, you made a tactical error.”
“I do not make tactical errors.”
“I see the Kirk ego has healed nicely. You called me Bones.”
“So what? I always… Oh. I see.” Jim stared out the window, clearly cycling through the jumble of memories surrounding their last mission.
“Right. Khan knew from that moment on about us. And, while he loved his crew, and would have done anything to save those 72 torpedoes, it was the 73rd torpedo. The one that Marcus took from him that really set him off. You see, Marcus took Khan’s…whatever you want to call me.” Jim closed his eyes and nodded. “And if you’d die to save the Enterprise kid, just think what you’d do in that situation.”
“I didn’t just die to save the Enterprise. I mean, I love that ship. And I love my crew. But mostly, I thought of you, Bones. Well, actually, I didn’t think of much of anything as I made the climb. Mostly focused on the task. It wasn’t until afterward, until I got to the glass containment door, that I really realized it. And then I thought of you.”
Bones swallowed. “I was angry for a long time that you didn’t call me down there. Spock got to be there…”
“Bones, I didn’t call Spock. I didn’t call anyone. If I’d had to see you, I couldn’t have kept it together. I couldn’t have…”
“I would have liked the chance to say goodbye.” Bones said, quietly. Jim flinched. “But, as a doctor, I know that we don’t always get that. It’s okay, Jimmy.”
Jim went silent again for a long moment. “I get the Maru now. Spock was trying to get me—all the command cadets—to face death. But, Bones, it’s easy to face your own. It’s the thought of something happening to you that makes me crazy. I learned that with the torpedo.”
“Jesus. Don’t remind me.” Bones shuddered.
“I still can’t believe you told her the Gorn story.”
* * *
Christmas Eve… Somewhere in Southern Virginia…
“Bones, it’s snowing. I think we should pull over.”
“Fine. We’ll find a hotel for the night.”
“Why don’t we just pull over until this snow squall blows through?” Jim suggested, worrying at his lower lip.
“Is that you being cautious? Will wonders never cease.” Bones found a cozy overlook and secured the car. They ended up pulled over to the side of the road, snow pattering on the roof, cozy and comfortable inside the warm vehicle. Bones pushed the seat back, trying to stretch his sore back when he suddenly got a lap full of James Kirk, on a mission. Jim kissed him, sweetly at first, then changing to soul drugging and deep, before raising his head.
“Bones, do you know the last time we had sex was my half-birthday?” Jim rocked his hips against Bones, smiling when Bones dropped his head back on the headrest and groaned. He bent to mouth at Bones’ neck, cupping the back of his head in his hands, running his fingers through his hair. Bones clasped his hips, trying to still him, pulling him closer instead.
“You…were dead. Not recovered enough…for this.” Bones managed to pant out. Jim rocked their hips together again before cupping Bones’ face and kissing him deeply again.
“Much as I hate to disagree with you, Doctor McCoy, I believe that you’ll find that I most certainly am.”
“Jim, don’t tempt me.” Bones begged, feeling his self-control fraying, slipping, breaking…
“Please, Bones, let me unwrap my Christmas present a bit early.” And Jim got his way. Like always.
* * *
Riverside Shipyards, New Year’s Eve, 2260...
Jim and Bones sat on the hood of the car, looking up at the spaceship still under construction. Neither could make out the name but Bones privately liked that. They could pretend it was their beloved Enterprise that way.
“Never thought I’d see Riverside again.” Jim said finally, huddling closer to Bones under the blanket, shivering a bit. Bones wrapped his arms around him, shifting so that Jim sat braced against his front, cocooned in the safety of his arms. He enveloped them both in the blanket and dropped a kiss on Jim’s head.
“Did you hate that much here?”
“Yes but I didn’t know how to get out. Christopher came along and gave me an escape route. Otherwise, I’d probably still be hanging out at that bar and getting into truly epic fights.” Jim smiled slightly at the memory.
“Did you know I’d been in the bar earlier that night?” Bones asked.
“You mean the night I met Cupcake and Uhura?”
“Yeah. I’d gotten two bottles of bourbon. I needed liquid courage for the shuttle. I was drinking them over in that shipyard motel while you were getting your ass kicked.”
“Wish you’d been in the bar. Could have used the help.”
“You were an awful punk back then. I mighta helped out Cupcake instead.” Jim laughed but his gaze slid back to the ship under construction. Bones watched Jim’s face as the stars winked on above them and the moon rose.
“I think they’re going to offer me that five year mission when we get back.” Jim finally whispered.
And Bones knew that he’s going to go too.
“So, do you think that I could add some more lab equipment for research in sickbay on the Enterprise?”
“Sure, you can add whatever you want.” Jim answered absently, his eyes still on the ship. Then he leaned his head back to rest on Bones’ shoulder, looking up at him. “Wait, does that mean…?
“Kid, I cannot possibly let you go back into the black without me. You wouldn’t get past Jupiter before you needed me.”
Jim smiled at him, radiant, and Bones felt an answering grin on his own face. Before he can let his nerves get the better of him, he blurted out the question he’s been wanting to ask since they left San Francisco. “Will you marry me?”
Jim blinked slowly at him, quite obviously poleaxed. Bones tried not to hold his breath while he waited for Jim’s answer. “Is this the same man who swore never to marry again? Who joined Starfleet because his wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce?”
“It’s not marriage itself that cost me everything but my bones. It was being married to the wrong person.”
“Yes.” Jim kissed him, briefly, on the lips. “Though you have to ask Spock to do the ceremony. And you have to tell the crew too. Come on, Bones. It’s going to be fun.”
“Five years in space. God help me.” Bones groused before kissing Jim deeply and, when Jim turned to wrap his arms around him, Bones knew that this was right where he belonged.