In Sickness

[sharpestscalpel]

He had a mental schedule, dammit. And varying from it pissed him right the fuck off. So when Chapel was late - didn't even have the goddamn pissing courtesy to call and let him know she was going to be fucking late - it pissed him right the fuck off.

Other M'Benga had shown up the fuck on time. What the shit was Chapel's goddamn malfunction?

McCoy pulled his comm out but before he could thumb it to call his wayward nurse, the door slide open and that little yeoman Uhura was using limped in.

Fucking goddamn shitting hell.

"What the fuck happened to you?"

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[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

They didn't have to wait long. Hlaing was efficient, which was why McCoy had called him in the first damn place. The door opened and Chapel entered, blank faced and dead eyed. Hlain walked behind her, hands behind his back.

"We are here now, Nurse." Hlaing's standard was accented. Didn't stop Chapel from obeying the implied command. She stopped, stood in the middle of sickbay like she was waiting for something awful to happen.

McCoy rose, stalked closer and Hlain shied away. McCoy rolled his eyes, waved him off. "You can go now." The security officed backed away with a quick look at Rand, though McCoy didn't know or give a shit what it was supposed to convey.

Chapel was fucked up. Oh, she looked just fine, mostly. Her hair, ordinarily sleek and pulled severely back, was loose and rumpled all to hell.

There went his goddamn schedule.

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

Hlaing was afraid of McCoy. Rand just stared back at him, not needing whatever it was he was trying to signify. For all she knew, she was on the shitlist now for thwarting the attempt, but the best thing she knew how to do now was make sure her leg wasn't permanently injured.

She figured she'd know if McCoy was trying something.

The nurse looked okay. Disheveled, maybe, but otherwise the way she always looked. If this was private business, McCoy would take it elsewhere. Until then, Rand was a captive audience.

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

McCoy circled Chapel, all of his attention on her. If some fucking busybody had ruined all the work he'd shitting put into making her functional....

He thumbed his comm again.

"Uhura. Captain."

She made him wait - but he'd expected that. When Uhura finally responded, she sounded like she was goddamn indulging him.

"This is the captain, doctor. Did you require something?"

If she ever gave him the chance, McCoy was going to strangle that woman with her own fucking hair.

"I need to talk to you about a sickbay matter, might have an impact on your away mission. You got a spare minute in your busy busy schedule?"

That got her attention, as he'd known it would. When she responded, it was quieter, no longer for show.

"My ready room in an hour, McCoy."

"Fine. McCoy out."

He paced around Chapel again, a complete circle. "God-shitting, dick-snotted snatch mouths can't keep a fucking thing to themselves on this fucking ship."

But when he spoke to Chapel, there was something of the same gentle tone he'd used with Rand. It was more familiar, though, almost the voice of a lover.

"Christine. Christine, you're in sickbay and isn't anyone going to fucking take you away from it."

***

The blonde woman blinked, finally. But she couldn't focus, couldn't feel anything, could hardly hear anything. There was such a roar in her ears. If she opened her mouth, it would get out.

"Christine. You are fucking safe here."

That voice was familiar though, she knew it. More importantly, she believed it.

Bones.

Christine opened her mouth and let the scream that had been building since she'd first heard Roger Korby's name in the mess hall echo out around her.

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

Rand looked away. She had to. This was too personal. She didn't know what the hell was going on, but it wasn't her business, and neither McCoy nor Chapel seemed to be aware she was even in the room. Hell, she wasn't even sure she was.

But she was, and she heard and saw. And she'd swear that McCoy cared, however creative his language, for the nurse. And Chapel responded, her scream piercing and raw, churning Rand's gut as much as everything else the past 24 hours had.

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

McCoy let her scream it out though her throat would feel like shit later for it. He was going to hypo her just about to in-fucking-sensibility anyway so it damn well didn't matter. He just needed to get her to a bed first.

"Come on, Christine." He held eye contact with her, settled his hands on her shoulders slowly slowly slowly and then urged her over to a bed in the corner, away from Rand and the bustle of the main area.

She followed, docile now. That wouldn't last. Chapel would fuck his sickbay up six ways from Sunday when it finally occurred to her so he needed to get her situated before that brain of hers took it into her head to smash some shit.

"That's right, easy now." He helped her onto the bed, took her shoes off. Then he rummaged for a hypo and hit her with a major sedative.

Jesus fucking Mary bent over a goddamn pew. She ought to be out for a few hours at least. He pulled out the restraints just in case.

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

McCoy led Chapel away, though still within Rand's line of sight. It wasn't her place to know what he was up to, calling the captain. But recent events had made her wondering at least understandable.

Not that the Empire was big on understanding.

Last night, Uhura had shown her the things in the walls, had shown her some trust. Today, she'd risked her life for her captain. And now McCoy, about whom rumor swirled like carrion crows, had treated her with an amused gentleness and shown far more gentleness--without amusement--to a seriously disturbed woman Rand was pretty sure no one else would give the time of day. They both had their reasons--everyone did.

They were pretty obscure ones, though.

Her knee tingled and she was restless, but she wasn't nearly done with her hour.

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

Chapel was out and Rand was still just where he'd left her like a good little biscuit and butter. He needed to calm the fuck down, that much was certain, before he went and saw her fucking highness the captain.

McCoy wandered back to Rand's side.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd not mention the state of my nurse to the general populace."

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

The general populace. Not the captain--McCoy didn't strike Rand as someone who was wanton with words. Words that weren't curses, anyway. Maybe he already figured she was in Uhura's camp.

"I have no reason to," she said. And then, because it was true, added, "I hope she feels better."

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

He scanned her again, watched the results flicked across the screen.

"Oh, she will. I'll damn well make sure of that."

It was equal parts reassurance and threat.

"You've got about another half-hour this time around. I'll release you when it's time but you're off-duty. Probably for three days."

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

'Off-duty' wasn't the same as 'vacation'--not around here, anyway. But she wasn't stupid, and if she really needed the recovery time, there wasn't much she could do. She couldn't exactly read his tone, but the whole scene was creepy enough she wasn't sure she wanted to be able to.

She nodded. "Fine," she said, brisk and practical. "And stay off it, I'm guessing."

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

"You're a smart biscuit. That's the shape of it."

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

She blinked at the epithet. Janis Rand was not anyone's biscuit.

Except inasmuch as she was low enough on the totem pole that she couldn't exactly make her own name. He was likely just trying to intimidate her.

She crossed her arms.

"Okay," she said. "I can do that."

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

He could just eat her up with some fucking jelly.

He grinned at her but it back into that serious look when he turned to survey Chapel.

"I'll be in my office. You holler if you need me or if she starts stirring."

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

She was going to just let him go--alone with Chapel was still better than alone with him--but her curiosity got the better of her at last.

"What was that?" she asked. "When you... On your hand."

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

There it was right there. She was curious. McCoy made his smile as kindly as he could make it - which was very. He leaned a hip against the edge of her bed, careful not to crowd her space too much but just enough that he was the most immediate thing around.

"Uhura irritates the shit out of me. But she ain't stupid. And I know what she wants. I'm willing, in fact, to bet that she's already shown 'em to you."

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

Dammit. The smile and the words were at odds. Confusing, and dangerous. And Rand didn't have a lot of experience as a spy.

"I'm just her yeoman," she said. "I bring coffee. Why would she show me anything?"

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

"Because she needs to be able to trust people."

It was plain to McCoy, like he'd read it in her med chart. It was in how she'd trusted Kirk when they were plotting together and in how she trusted that boy Chekov now.

She didn't trust widely - and she didn't trust Kirk or McCoy with an inch now. But she needed it so she didn't feel so all alone.

McCoy'd bet credits - and he wasn't a betting man - that Uhura hadn't fucked Chekov but she might just when it came to this little morsel. Made things more interesting. The game had more players now.

"Chekov's away and you're at her beck and call - bet she can't help but want to trust you, with your big eyes and sincere work ethic."

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

Those eyes narrowed now, keen to the mockery. "Maybe she did," she offered. "But why did you?"

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

"Why do I need to keep it secret? For that matter, why does she?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her and pushed himself up from the edge of her bed.

"Twenty-five minutes. I'll be back before then."

[janis-shrugged.livejournal.com]

She looked after him, not saying anything further. Maybe there was no reason to keep it a secret, but they had done up until now--and Uhura had very clearly been demonstrating something to her last night. For that matter, she thought McCoy had been pretty conscious in his own actions. Weighing whether she was already in the know.

Maybe it wasn't a secret, but neither was in the habit of advertising.

She sat back and waited.