Stranded

Summary: Bones and Spock are stranded on a planet
Warning(s): Spoilers for the alternate timeline movies; AU; descriptions of wounds
Pairing: Mild Leonard McCoy/Spock

###

“Doctor? Doctor McCoy, can you hear me?”

The voice penetrated Bones’ consciousness, like an irritating insect buzzing around his head. Without opening his eyes, he lifted a hand, intending to swat away the annoying voice. Or its owner.

His hand wouldn’t raise more than a few centimetres before pain sliced through him, chasing away the numbness that had permeated him. Burning fire raged from his wrist up to his shoulder; or, at least, that’s what it felt like.

“Doctor McCoy.” A hand rested on his shoulder. “Our pod has crash-landed on an unknown planet. You are injured….”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Bones spoke through gritted teeth. He forced his eyes open, ignoring the way his body tried to force them to stay closed. His body was shivering. “Going into shock,” he mumbled.

“What can I do?” Spock asked calmly.

Bones blinked several times, trying to focus on the Vulcan’s face. He gave up when the blurred features refused to resolve into Spock’s face. “Need to…stay warm.” He looked around at the shattered remains of the pod. “We got any supplies left?” It was hard to keep consciousness. He felt dizzy and nauseas. “Fairly sure I’ve got a concussion,” he muttered. He glanced at his hand, but his vision was so blurred, all he could see was crimson. Was his whole arm really gone? “Tell me it’s not as bad as I think it is,” he muttered.

“I cannot tell you that, as I do not know how bad you think it is.” Spock disappeared from view and the next moment, something soft and warm settled over Bones’ body. “You were bleeding heavily from your arm,” he said.

“Yeah, the crimson colour sort of gave that away.” Bones focused and squinted at his arm, noticing that there was some white showing through the red. “You bandaged it?”

“You have a metal pipe sticking through your arm,” Spock said. “I would have pulled it out, but I didn’t want to risk making your injury worse. Not until you were conscious and could talk me through it.”

“Okay. Can you grab my flask for me?” Bones asked. “I think I need to be good and drunk for this procedure.”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Trust me, I’m a good doctor, but an awful patient,” Bones replied. “I need something to take the edge off the pain.” He paused and then asked, “What happened to the rest of the crew?”

“They all perished in the crash.”

“Damn it.” Bones closed his eyes, breathing heavily. He opened his eyes again when he felt the flask held to his lips. He opened his mouth and felt the burning hot liquid course over his tongue and down his throat. “The communicators shot?” he asked, when Spock pulled the flask away from him.

“They are not working.” Spock moved a bit closer to Bones, eyes fixed on his wounded arm. “Once you are recovered sufficiently enough to move, we might be able to find some tools to repair them. Or another way to communicate with the Enterprise.”

“Yeah.” Bones closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The alcohol had helped numb the pain to a dull roar; didn’t do much for his head, though. He forced his eyes open again and focused on Spock. “The pipe all the way through?”

“No.”

“Okay.” Bones took a deep breath in, preparing himself mentally for the pain…at least as much as he was able to. “You want to press around the injury. Put as much pressure on it as possible.” He sucked in a sharp breath as Spock moved to do as he’d said, his vision darkening as the pain sharpened.

“Doctor.”

Once again, Spock’s voice brought Bones up from the unconsciousness that threatened to overwhelm him. He looked up into the Vulcan’s eyes and muttered, “It’d probably be easier if you leave me. Go find help alone.”

“I am not going to leave you.” A slightly more determined look came over Spock’s face and he placed a hand against Bones’ head.

“What are you doing?” Bones mumbled, trying to pull away from the touch. Not that it hurt, or was even uncomfortable, but he didn’t know why Spock was touching him. And part of him thought it felt good and wanted to lean into the touch and…yeah. He really had to be in a bad way, if he was responding in that way to a simple touch.

“I am going to perform a mind meld with you,” Spock explained. “It will help to control the pain. It will also allow me to see your memories of treating wounds like this, so you do not have to strain yourself telling me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my voice.”

“But you are struggling to stay awake,” Spock countered, his voice infuriatingly calm. “It will be easier to help you if you do not have to explain to me in words.”

Bones opened his mouth, because he thought he probably should protest. But then there was heat coming from Spock’s fingers; and he didn’t know if it was because there was actual heat coming from the Vulcan’s fingers, or because he was shivering and in shock still. But then his mind was filling with images. Images from his own life and also from Spock’s. They flipped too fast for him to fully absorb everything all at once, but they left him with a sense that he’d just been allowed to see something profound.

And then he realised that the pain was lessening. It was still there, but it was manageable. When his vision cleared again, his vision had cleared enough that he could see there was no pipe in his arm and that it had been rebandaged. He frowned. “I thought that would hurt a hell of a lot more.”

“I took away some of your pain.”

“Took it away?” Bones echoed, staring at him. “You mean you’re experiencing my pain now?”

“You have been hurt more than enough, Doctor. I have not taken all of your pain away. Only shared it.” Spock looked past him for a few moments, as if lost in thought, then looked at Bones once more. “If you need to rest, I believe this place is safe enough.”

“What about the wreckage of the pod?”

“There is no risk of an explosion,” Spock answered.

Bones nodded, looking up at the Vulcan. It was just them and he sat up slowly, holding his breath as pain lanced through his arm before it settled down again. Reaching up with his free arm, he wrapped it around Spock and drew the Vulcan in close. Then, he pressed his lips against Spock’s in a hard, almost rough kiss.

Spock slowly pulled back and looked into Bones’ eyes. “I do not believe you are kissing me in your right mind.”

Bones rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with my mind,” he grumbled. “Just shut up and kiss me.”

Spock watched him for a few moments and then did as he asked.

The End