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Jim saw the light before he heard the phaser blast. He closed his eyes, prepared for the hit –a hit that never came.
Next to him, Bones collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.
As Jim’s hand fumbled around his waist, moved by instinct and momentarily forgetting that they didn’t beam down with phasers for this mission, the alien party that had received them –and shot Bones without even bothering talking with them– started walking away. They moved slowly, as if nothing had happened, and Jim considered chasing them to get his revenge. But Bones was unconscious on the ground, and he couldn’t abandon him.
Spock, the only other member of their three-person landing party, seemed to share Jim’s mind. And of course he did; this was his Bones. Or rather, his McCoy, or his Leonard. How could he leave his side? Instead of pursuing the attackers, he kneeled next to Bones’ stiff body with his back turned to the aliens, and he held him close. He held him protectively, possessively, with a worried expression that rarely showed on the Vulcan’s controlled features.
“Bones!” Jim said, kneeling beside them. Spock shot him a sharp look, but his brown eyes softened when he realized it was Jim, that he didn’t pose any danger to them. Still, Jim wasn’t any less scared of him. “What happened?” He asked, fully aware that neither Bones nor Spock could answer his question.
The situation was so confusing that Jim couldn’t even fully worry about his friend. His mind spun around trying to find the answer to his own question and a course of action to follow. How had he failed so hard at protecting his crew in what was supposed to be an easy mission?
First contacts aren’t always easy. Sometimes the societies they visited clashed with the Federation –morally, politically, biologically– and therefore confrontation arose instead of friendship or cooperation. But Ergisol was supposed to be a walk in the park.
A planet free of wars of any kind for three centuries, with a post-scarcity economy, no records of xenophobia or attacks around the quadrant and a humanoid species that had, through subspace communications, replied to Starfleet’s proposal to make contact was an easy case. That’s why Jim had chosen to beam down with just Spock and Bones, without phasers or the usual security detail. That’s why Jim couldn’t understand why Bones was lying on the grass.
“He is alive,” Spock said, not the answer to Jim’s question, but an answer that he appreciated nonetheless.
Jim opened his communicator. “Kirk to Enterprise.” He waited for Scotty’s voice to reply from the other side of the line, but was met with the crackle of static. “Kirk to Enterprise,” he repeated a tad louder. “Medical emergency, we need to beam up.” More static. He closed the communicator with too much force, resigned. “Comms are off.”
“I see,” Spock said.
Since the aliens had disappeared behind the closest treeline, following the paved road that crossed down the middle of the small woods, Spock had relaxed. Jim knew he was still very concerned about Bones, no matter how hard he tried to pass his anxiety as scientific interest while he examined the unconscious body gently and thoroughly.
“There are no external wounds,” Spock said, after a while. “However, I am positive he received a phaser blast.”
“Of course he did, Spock,” Jim said, looking at Bones’ peaceful face. “He didn’t just faint, that’s for sure.” His tone was harsh and he immediately regretted it. “Sorry, Spock, I didn’t mean to- This-” He huffed. “This is frustrating.”
They didn’t say another word after that. Every five minutes, Spock used Bones’ handheld scanner to monitor his vitals and, every two, Jim tried to communicate with the Enterprise to no avail. The sun dipped below the horizon, finishing its fast trajectory across the sky –days were only six hours long, in Ergisol– and painting the clouds in orange, reddish and pink hues that Jim would have loved to appreciate if the situation was different.
“What the hell?” a familiar voice mumbled, and Jim snapped his communicator shut to run to Spock and to Bones –a conscious Bones!
“Leonard,” Spock said, the shadow of a smile playing on his lips.
Spock loosened his hold on Bones’ body and helped him sit up. The doctor was rubbing his forehead with one hand and his neck with the other one.
“Ow,” Bones said out loud, wincing. “How long have I been out?”
“About thirty minutes,” Jim replied, basing his answer on how many times he’d tried to call the Enterprise.
“Twenty-eight minutes,” Spock said as he let go of him completely, his usual professional behavior returning to him now that he knew Bones was all right. “Were you stunned?”
Bones looked at the intact front of his shirt. “I don’t think so,” he said. “It felt a little different.” He lifted his shirt, probably looking for a burn of some kind, but as Spock had pointed out, there wasn’t evidence of the attack. “No, Spock, it’s not fascinating. It’s concerning. What if they shot me with an invisible virus of some kind and now I’m infected and-”
“Leonard?” Spock said, raising an eyebrow.
“What? We’ve come across weirder stuff,” Bones said, an ironic smirk on his lips.
“I did not say ‘fascinating’.”
There was a brief silence in which Jim replayed the conversation. Spock was right.
“I heard you say it, Spock. Why are-”
“He didn’t say anything,” Jim cut him off, shaking his head.
Bones frowned, then stood up and wiped the dirt and plants off his clothes. “Well, if I made it up it’s because Spock’s too predictable.”
“I am,” Spock replied calmly as he rose from the ground. “However, since I was thinking ‘fascinating’ precisely when you heard me say it, your prediction may not be a prediction after all.”
Jim stood up and looked at Spock, confused; he would need further explanation of what he meant by that. Spock didn’t expand on it though, he kept his mouth closed and his eyes on Bones’.
“Are you implying I can read your thoughts?” Bones asked, baffled. Spock didn’t answer. “Oh. You are.” Bones brushed his fingertips over his eyebrows. “And I can.”
Now, this was unexpected –even more unexpected than the Ergisolans shooting Bones and leaving– yet… somehow Jim wasn’t
that
surprised. It was widely known that Vulcans could form telepathic links with their significant others. It was normally done on purpose, but there had been records of accidental bonding, whether it was because of mind compatibility or from excessive shared mind melds. Now, Jim wasn’t sure if mind melding during sex was just a rumor, but if it wasn’t-
“We’re not bonded, Jim,” Bones said, out of the blue. “You think I’d want Spock’s irritating mind poking around in my brain all day?”
Jim and Spock shared a knowing look. “You can read my thoughts too?”
“I…” Bones’ gaze went from Jim to Spock to Jim again. “I need a moment.” He looked around in his med kit for the scanner that Spock was still holding, then yanked it out of his hand when he realized he had it. After running it over his head a few times, he looked at the readings. “My neural pathways have been jumbled. Hell, I don’t even know what they looked like before I got shot.”
Spock stepped closer to Bones to see the readings for himself. “Fascinating,” he said, as Bones mouthed the word, annoyance etched into his expression.
“So is this it? The Ergisolans hit me with a telepathic beam and now I can read everyone’s minds?”
Spock and Jim nodded, the latter somewhat doubtful about it, still. What if the telepathic abilities were only part of what the phaser pistol did? What if Bones’ human anatomy couldn’t adapt to the new neural pathways and he-
“Stop worrying, Jim,” Bones said. “I can feel your thoughts and it’s… not fun.”
“Sorry, Bones. It’s not fun for me either, this… whole situation.”
“Right,” Bones said, opening his med kit to return the scanner in its place.
“Let’s try again for Enterprise,” Jim proposed, but Bones stopped him with a quick hand movement.
“We can’t beam up, Jim. We need to talk to the Ergisolans. I think they might have done this to me for a good reason,” he said. “They’re supposed to be good, aren’t they? What if this is how they communicate? Telepathy.”
Spock knitted his eyebrows together. “A most interesting theory, Leo- doctor McCoy. But it would not explain why the welcoming party left.”
“It does,” Jim said, starting to make his way to the spot where the aliens had disappeared. “They didn’t want to risk suffering from a violent response.”
When Jim arrived at the treeline, he saw that the paved way continued at least for some miles. It seemed to go down the mountainside, but probably slowly, as it wasn’t steep at all. The night wasn’t cold, and the darkness, not too bothersome. The soft light of two of the planet’s moons seeped through the foliage and lit the way.
Spock’ and Bones’ steps approached Jim’s position and stopped right beside him.
“So we’re all in agreement,” Bones said, after a long silence. “We should have a word with the Ergisolans.”
Jim chuckled. “A silent word, perhaps.” He stood still, with his hands on his hips. Who knew what they could find down that road? “Let’s go.”
**********
The road down the mountain was an easy trek.
In just twenty minutes they got to a part of the path that wasn’t surrounded by big and dense vegetation, and they started getting glimpses of their destiny. At the foot of the mountain, there was a big, modern city with high concrete buildings and some glass domes emanating soft green light. Despite its aesthetic shortcomings, it wasn’t ugly, at least from the hill.
“It seems we’re almost there,” Jim said.
And oh, was he glad.
The trek itself had been easy, so far, but Jim was tired. Just… not physically. He was tired of having to hear McCoy chuckling to himself every few minutes and telling Spock “not now” under his breath. Jim didn’t even want to think about what their telepathic conversations were about, on the one hand, because it hurt and it filled him with bitter jealousy he loathed to feel, and on the other because Bones could read his mind too. The last thing he needed was to embarrass himself during a mission as important as this one.
He chose to focus only on how they would carry out the first contact.
After ten minutes and many considerations about the mission –a thousand courses of action for a thousand possible outcomes– they reached the street level. A metallic sign with symbols none of them could possibly translate welcomed them to the city.
Jim turned to McCoy, waiting.
“That I have telepathy doesn’t mean that I have an integrated GPS system in my brain, Jim,” Bones grumbled.
“Sorry,” Jim said, offering him a brief smile before turning to Spock. “Spock?”
“The tricorder readings do not seem accurate. Whatever is affecting the external communications may be affecting the scans as well.”
Jim took a deep breath and looked around. There were a few roads they could take to enter the city. One was broader than the others. All were desert.
“Mhm. Let’s go with this one,” Jim said, pointing to the broad one. “Stay alert. We don’t know what to expect.”
That said, they got going in silence.
It wasn’t long until they crossed paths with an Ergisolan. The citizen was walking on the same side of the street as them, their pace relaxed and casual. With their only arm, they were holding a bag of some sort. It reminded Jim of what a human being looked like returning home from work, or shopping, or a stroll down the park.
Upon seeing them, the Ergisolan tilted their head like a confused dog. Fair; they were aliens, on this planet.
“Bones?” Jim said, nudging his friend’s arm with the elbow.
Bones looked focused, his eyes wide open and unblinking as they followed the alien’s movements. His mouth moved unconsciously, lips parting to form silent words. And then, once the Ergisolan passed by their side to continue making their way down the street, Bones turned to them.
“I just had a conversation,” Bones said, his lips slowly curving into a wide smile. “I…” His eyebrows arched with perplexity. “I can talk to them.”
Jim smiled. “That’s fantastic, Bones.”
“What did the Ergisolan say?” Spock asked, glancing towards where the alien was walking now, quite far from their position.
“Oh. Well, they welcomed us to Ergisol, asked about Spock’s pointy ears, said that the council is probably waiting for us in the mayoral dome, explained how to get there from where we are now and joked that you should try to think less loudly.”
“All that in just fifteen seconds?” Jim asked, quite impressed. “Hold on, did he say I think too loudly?”
Bones nodded and his smile faded a little. “You do, Jim.”
Shit. There wasn’t anything he could do about it, so Jim settled for offering Bones a smile and walking away. “Is it this way?” He asked, just in case.
“Yes,” Bones said, running a little to catch him.
“Lead the way, then,” Jim said.
**********
The mayoral dome was probably one of the glass domes they had seen from the hillside. Like the others, it emitted a soft green light, but it was smaller in size, only two or three stories high and not especially wide either.
Despite the pedestrian traffic, which in that zone of the city was busy and a little chaotic, Jim could discern the welcoming party that had shot Bones and left them all on top of that hill standing in front of the huge dome doors. They crossed the road however they could, being pushed and pushing, dodging locals and what seemed like their choice of pets, some sort of domestic squirrel they walked around on leashes.
During the route, Spock had commented on how impressive it was that, despite the lack of vehicles on the streets, the city was very busy and full. Especially during the night. Since the days were extremely short, it made sense that the Ergisolans wouldn’t want to spend seventy percent of their time asleep and instead had an active nightlife, though. Jim found it curious –even funny– too. Bones didn’t share his opinion; he had become quiet since they’d turned a corner to a crowded Ergisolan marketplace.
Too many minds to read, probably. Too many minds probing in his. He wasn’t too experienced, but Jim knew that telepathy could be headache-inducing for psi-null beings like humans. Well… They weren’t carrying phasers, but they had some hyposprays in Bones’ med kit. If it came to it, he could always-
“I don’t have a headache,” Bones said dryly. “It’s just a little unsettling.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jim apologized under his breath. His voice was still heard over the click-clack of people walking on an otherwise silent street. “Can you hold on a little longer?”
Bones glanced at him, gaze hard and cold. “It’s not like I have a choice.”
This telepathy had gotten old very fast, and their mission was just starting. Jim allowed himself to think that he’d rather have taken the phaser blast and suffer through this than to see Bones suffer. Then, seeing they were about to reach the dome doors, he tried to quiet his mind.
Once they got there, the welcoming party from before –now Jim could confirm they were the same three individuals– stretched their arm up, straight, as in greeting. Bones did the same, so Jim and Spock followed his lead and raised their arms too. After a few seconds, they all lowered them at the same time.
And then, the aliens and Bones started walking away to cross the glass doors of the dome. “Come,” Bones said, turning around to Jim and Spock almost as an afterthought. “They said we should follow them.”
The officers paced quickly until they reached the rest of the group. “Did they say anything else?” Jim asked, figuring that if he didn’t, he wouldn’t get told.
“Of course,” Bones said. “That’s Hynn on the left, she’s the mayor of Ergi, this town. On her right is Anha, her secretary, and walking behind them is-”
“The Ergisolan who shot you,” Jim said sharply.
Bones glanced at him briefly. “Ohet. He’s the mayor of Ergisol’s other capital city.”
They crossed the big glass doors.
The inside of the dome was not what Jim was expecting. As it turns out, the green light seeping out of them was a result of the light that shone under the curved glass ceiling. It was daytime there.
The walls shone with the same green hue that could be seen from outside, lighting the huge chamber with a sun-like illumination. It was beautiful.
And not only because of that. The inside of the mayoral dome was like a big open office space surrounded by vegetation. Actually, it was the other way around. The tables, chairs, screens, panels and cabinets were all integrated within the trees and bushes and grass. It was a stark contrast, the one between the green bright inside and the urban dark streets outside.
“It wasn’t painful, you know,” Bones said, and Jim stopped watching their surroundings to focus on him. “And he apologized.”
Jim simply nodded and kept walking besides him, following the three Ergisolans across the dome.
“They haven’t found a better method of talking to people,” Bones added. “They’ve tried.”
“Maybe we can help them out with that,” Jim answered. “The Federation, I mean.”
Bones hummed absentmindedly. “The conversation about what’s in it for us or them if they join is yet to be discussed.”
“Right. I guess it’s what we’re going to do now.”
In front of them, Hynn, Anha and Ohet stopped right before what seemed like a table with a bench on either side but was actually a rock similar to granite, carved for their use. The Ergisolans all sat on one side, so Bones, Jim and Spock took a seat opposite to them, Jim in the middle. The flat surface of the make-do table was cold and shiny. Jim stared at the spots of golden-hued minerals within the otherwise mostly gray rock.
“Not gold,” Bones said. “It’s a mineral called eryo.”
Jim looked up and met Hynn’s brown eyes. “I appreciate you sharing your knowledge, mayor,” he said, offering her an honest smile. “But there’s other answers I seek, right now.”
The brown eyes jumped to Bones. Come to think of it, the Ergisolans only looked at him during conversation. Bones nodded a few times while they engaged in telepathic talk, an unnecessary move born out of habit, and then he smiled.
“They just told me every time a person gets telepathy during a first contact, they forget to translate the conversations to the rest of the landing party,” he said amusedly.
“They’re right,” Jim replied dryly.
“Captain…” Spock said, making Jim turn his head. “It is not easy to maintain two conversations at the same time, especially if they are not in the same language.”
“What do you suggest we do, mister Spock? Let Bones carry the whole weight of a first contact mission?”
“No. There is a possibility that I can help him.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Bones said, already a step ahead of Spock’s voice, and several ahead of Jim. “Maybe if one of them touches your skin, you can talk to them too.”
Ah. Vulcan touch telepathy. Jim always figured it was considered intimate, within the culture, since Spock had rarely used his abilities during the mission, but he was at least half-wrong. Spock laid his right hand on the table, offering it to Ohet, who clasped it with his. Nothing intimate seemed to happen; only communication.
Suddenly, Jim realized he was an outsider.
All he heard was silence, all he saw was people connecting in front of him when he couldn’t. He couldn’t even try to without interrupting. He couldn’t do his job as captain.
He was useless.
“Bones…” he said, pausing to let the doctor’s brain switch to Standard. “Can you ask them about the comms?”
Bones frowned for half a second, then answered. “They use a jamming signal so the visitors stay on the planet at least until their telepathic representative is awake.”
“Thank you,” Jim replied.
The silent conversation resumed shortly after his answer –if it had stopped at all– and, once again, Jim was left alone.
Five minutes passed. Eight. Sixteen.
Jim thought as little as he could. He examined the inside of the dome in detail, watched as a worker near them typed quickly with his hand on a tablet –taking notes of the meeting?–, considered standing up and taking a stroll around the gorgeous building, even. He thought a lot, but avoided subjects like his own feelings like the plague.
Then, finally, after twenty incredibly long minutes, everyone at the table stood up. Everyone but Jim, of course, who was completely out of the loop. He copied them, searching for Bones’ or Spock’s gazes, confused.
“Hotel,” Spock said, still holding Ohet’s hand.
Unsure about what that meant, Jim nodded and followed the rest.
**********
“Not bad,” Bones said as soon as the door of their room closed.
Jim threw his hands up in the air. “Not bad, Bones? Are you serious?”
“It’s big,” the doctor said, stepping further in.
If only the size of the room was the problem…
“Room”
singular
was the biggest problem. Since Jim couldn’t communicate with the aliens, he couldn’t know if they were given one room on purpose or for lack of vacant rooms, but it felt slightly rude either way; the Ergisolans
knew
they were coming. Were they expecting a landing party of one?
Now, the hotel room, as Bones had pointed out, was big, huge, like a whole apartment. The living room, furnished with two armchairs, a round wooden table and some storage units here and there, was charming. Three doors joined the living room with… Two bedrooms and a bathroom? Hopefully.
“If they can read our minds, they should’ve noticed it’s not a human custom to share a hotel room,” Jim complained while he walked to one of the doors. He opened it. “The bathroom.”
“That’s not the kind of thoughts they read, Jim. It’s…” Bones paused and sat on one of the armchairs. “I don’t know how to explain it, actually.”
Jim walked to the next door and opened it. “A bedroom with a king-sized bed,” he announced. As he made his way to the last door, he suppressed the thoughts about Bones and Spock having to sleep together in that bed. Then, he opened the door.
It was sort of a study. Small, with one desk and a chair in the center.
Well… Shit.
“There’s only one bed,” Jim said, still looking at the study with disbelief.
“What?” Bones said behind him.
“There is only one bed,” Spock repeated, louder.
“Yeah, I heard that,” Bones said. “I’m just- Why?”
Jim closed the door of the study with force and turned around. “Why?
You
should know! Or Spock! I didn’t talk to anyone!”
“The Ergisolans did not describe our accommodations,” Spock said, tone calm and collected considering the situation. He entered the single bedroom. “The bed is quite spacious.”
Bones stood up and crossed the room to join him. “You think we can all fit?”
“Does it matter?” Jim asked, annoyed.
He knew
exactly
why this was affecting him and wasn’t a problem to Bones or Spock. He knew it was because, while to him the situation was a punch to the gut, to them it was a chance to sleep next to each other during a mission.
“Jim?” Bones said as he and Spock stepped out of the room at the same time to look at him, their expressions puzzled.
“It’s not about fitting, it’s about-” Jim pinched the bridge of his nose. “Whatever. Sorry. I think I’m angry because I’m tired.”
Spock stepped away from the doorframe. “You should get some sleep, captain.”
“Right,” Jim nodded. “I’ll leave space for you.”
“Unnecessary,” Spock said.
“No need,” Bones agreed. “We’re not tired. We thought maybe we could practice telepathic blocking during the night.”
“Shielding,” Spock corrected him.
“That.”
The tension in Jim’s muscles loosened minutely. The jealousy was still strong within him, but at least he’d be able to sleep.
“I think that’s very clever,” Jim said, offering them a smile before he passed between them and walked into the bedroom. “I’ll lie on the edge just in case you decide to get some shut-eye.”
“Would you like to eat dinner before bed?” Spock asked politely. “Anha recommended a vegetarian restaurant located nearby. I believe it is an opportunity to taste local food while we are here.”
“Yeah, Jim, they made it sound really good.”
“I’m not hungry, but thank you for the offer,” he said, convincing himself that it was the truth just in case Bones could sense his
very
real hunger.
“You sure? Spock’s going anyway to get something for us.”
Jim walked deeper into the room, deep enough so neither Bones nor Spock could see him from the living room. “I’m sure.”
As he left his belongings on the nightstand and stopped to consider if it was best to sleep with clothes on or to at least take his uniform shirt off, he heard the door of the hotel room close. He wondered if Bones had decided to accompany Spock to help him with the conversations and then Bones walked in the bedroom.
“He’ll find a way to talk to them,” he said, although Jim had a feeling this wasn’t why he had come in.
Jim sat on the bed to take his boots off. “I know he will.”
“So what’s with you?” Bones asked.
There it was. Jim pulled off his right boot and left it on the wooden floor, under the bed.
“Me? I’m tired,” Jim said, looking up to meet his friend’s eyes.
Bones, standing in front of him with his arms crossed, raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You’re jealous.”
Jim froze. His boot hung from his left foot, half-off.
“Jealous?” Jim asked, choosing a tone that sounded surprised and offended at the same time.
“Yes, Jim. Jealous,” he repeated, tapping his temple with a finger.
“That shielding lesson can’t come too soon,” Jim scoffed as he finished taking his boot off. “I feel spied on.”
Bones bounced on the balls of his feet, clearly irritated by the comment, but didn’t say anything.
“I know you’re not doing it on purpose,” Jim added with regret.
There was a short silence in which Jim didn’t know what to do with himself. He couldn’t go to sleep, he couldn’t take his shirt off unprompted. He definitely couldn’t admit anything to make Bones go away –because he wouldn’t.
“I’m worried, Jim, that’s all,” Bones said, looking down. “I’ve been feeling jealousy coming from your mind since I woke up after the phaser shot.”
“It’s nothing, Bones. Personal matters.”
“Are they?” He said, bringing his gaze back to Jim’s face. “I know you.”
“And now you’re in my mind, more intimately than ever,” Jim joked humorlessly. “Yes, you know me. Better than anyone.”
Bones uncrossed his arms, walked two steps towards the bed and took a seat next to Jim on the mattress. “Is it because you can’t talk to them?”
“Yes,” Jim said, glad to have found a way out of the conversation that wasn’t a complete lie. “Yes,” he continued, nodding. “It should’ve been me, Bones. The one to receive that shot. You know it’s Starfleet regulation that the captain of a ship must be there during first contact.”
“You’re here.”
“Come on, Bones,” Jim said, smiling somewhat ruefully. “I’m barely here. I can’t negotiate with the Ergisolans like I should. I can’t even hear which restaurants they recommend!”
“Is it just that?” Bones asked, his blue eyes fixed on Jim’s, unblinking.
“‘
Just’
? You think it’s not a reason strong enough to be jealous?”
“I think it is,” he said, standing up and making his way to the door. “I also think you’re hiding something. I wouldn’t want to invade your mind’s privacy, though.” He turned around. “Good night, Jim.”
He walked out and shut the door behind him.
Jim covered his face with both hands, his heart rapidly pounding. He had almost been caught. Bones had been so close to finding out the truth, and the one he had revealed about his insecurities regarding this first contact wasn’t easy to admit out loud either. Still… Better this than to confess his feelings.
No, he couldn’t do that. Ever.
Slightly calmer now that he was alone, Jim took his shirt off, ordered the lights to dim and got under the covers. On the edge of the bed, as promised.
And after his stomach rumbled once or twice, Jim fell asleep.
**********
The mattress shifted. The sheets moved around. Jim, engulfed by a dream that involved a hotel room very similar to the one he was sleeping in, half-noticed it. It registered in his mind, though, that Spock and Bones had chosen to sleep a little.
In Jim’s dream, he was alone in the room. He was awake, looking at the sea through a big window. Shore leave. A shore leave that, like all of them, was depressingly lonesome and tiring. He sighed.
Two knocks on the door made him turn. Was he expecting anyone? If he was lucky enough, this could be an order from Starfleet to return urgently to the Enterprise –a distress signal in uncharted territory? War brewing between neighboring planets? With a spring in his step, Jim answered the door.
Outside stood Spock and Bones, dressed in swimming trunks and matching open shirts.
“Jim,” Spock said as he walked in uninvited.
“A beautiful day, isn’t it?” Bones said, doing the same.
Once the door slid closed, they both started taking the few clothes they had on off. Jim couldn’t help but watch in shock.
“Like what you see?” Bones said smoothly.
“I… Yes.”
“Come, Jim,” Spock said, sitting on the bed. “We know you desire us.”
“I do,” Jim said, his feet unconsciously stepping towards the bed, as if pulled by a magnetic force stronger than him, stronger than a pulsar.
“Oh, Jim,” Bones sighed. “Jim. Jim. Jim.”
What?
“Jim. Jim. Jim. Jim. Jim.”
Jim woke up surrounded by darkness.
“Jim,” Bones whispered.
He was shaking his shoulder gently and, thanks to the sliver of light coming in through the window, Jim could see Bones’ face hovering over his.
“Bones?” He said, voice hoarse from sleeping. “Is something wrong? Is it morning already? Where’s Spock?”
Bones’ lowered his head more and Jim panicked. Their faces were extremely close, only a narrow space between them.
A space that Bones closed by pressing his lips on Jim’s softly, then backing away with hesitation. Jim chased his lips, kissed him back; he wanted to savor the sensation. But as he became more aware of his physical body, about the way Bones was holding him and he was holding his friend in return, Jim pulled away in terror.
“No, Jim, this isn’t a dream,” Bones said, sitting back. “Is that bad? I thought since we were in your actual dream, that maybe you-”
“Spock,” Jim said, brushing his lips with his thumb as if to clean the evidence of the kisses.
Bones took his hand. “If that’s what’s freaking you out, just know that Spock will be happy about this.”
“Will he?” Jim asked, sitting up on the mattress, his naked chest exposed to the cold-ish air in the room.
“Yes,” Bones said.
They kissed again, with more urgency this time. Jim’s heart beat fast with the excitement of getting to know Bones all over again, from another perspective. It was freeing to kiss him and touch him so openly, and he could only hope Bones felt the same.
“I do,” Bones said, parting from him just to say that before returning his lips on Jim’s.
“Leonard?” Spock said, his deep voice rumbling over every other sound in the room.
Both panting, Jim and Bones separated to focus on the barely-awake Vulcan looking back at them.
“Ah, Spock,” Bones said, smiling at him from the center of the bed.
“I understand,” Spock replied, nodding. He sat up, pushed the covers away from himself and stood up. “I do.”
“Spock, you’re a damn fool,” Bones said, desperate, as the Vulcan started to turn around. “Do you really think I’d do this to you if I didn’t know for a fact that Jim wants you too?”
There was a short silence, slightly tense. Accustomed to seeing in the darkness, Jim watched Bones and Spock with interest, heart still jumping from Bones’ kisses but sinking for Spock at the same time. What was this even about?
“Remember what we said when we… Well, you know when,” Bones said, amused.
“No victors,” Spock said, seemingly understanding Bones’ very vague comment.
“He’s telling the truth, Spock,” Jim interrupted, sheepish. He felt like an intruder joining a lovers’ quarrel as a mediator of sorts.
“You’re not intruding,” Bones replied without taking his eyes off Spock. “You’re why Spock and I started seeing each other, Jim. You’re at the center of this.”
“Wh-”
“It is a… somewhat extensive story,” Spock said as he got on the bed again and received a gentle kiss on the cheek from Bones. “And it is late.”
“Yes, maybe we should sleep,” Jim said, despite his disappointment in having to cut a situation with so much potential short.
“That is not what I meant,” Spock replied, crawling closer to Jim.
“What was it about, then, Mr. Spock?” Jim asked, holding his breath with anticipation.
Spock straightened and pressed Jim’s chest backwards until he was lying flat on the bed. “If we are to be awake in two hours, I would rather spend the little time we have using my mouth for something more exciting than talking.”
Looking up at Spock’s completely serious face, Jim couldn’t help but chuckle. “Kiss me, then,” he teased.
His chuckling ceased but his smile didn’t falter, not even when Spock bent down to kiss him and, as he melted into the mattress, so delighted he could burst, he thanked Morpheus for having given him
that
dream and –funnily enough– the Ergisolans for having shot Bones.
**********
In the morning, Jim didn’t regret not getting those two hours of sleep. Spock and Bones did, however.
As the three of them ate the leftovers from dinner for breakfast and Bones practiced what Spock taught him about shielding his mind from others, Jim couldn’t stop smiling. Not even Bones’ sleep-deprived complaints about everything and Spock’s constant reminders of the minutes left until they should check out of the room could ruin his mood.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” Bones said, eating a spoonful of brown mush that reminded Jim of oatmeal. “It’s easier for our pointy-eared friends, ‘cause if they don’t touch anyone, they don’t get much connection.”
“It is not about the type of telepathy, Leonard, but about each person’s training,” Spock said, standing next to the door with his hands behind his back, ready to leave. “I am sure that if you had been born in a telepathic species, you would have learned to control when and how you want to use it.”
“Hm,” Bones said, his mouth full. He swallowed. “You may be right, this time.”
“When am I not?” Spock answered, fully serious yet definitely teasing.
Bones opened his mouth to argue –pointlessly, since there was no way he didn’t read Spock’s tone correctly if he was in his mind–, but Jim talked before he could. “Well, I for one am glad that your shielding technique is faulty, Bones,” Jim said, clapping his back animatedly.
“Oh, me too. Your fantasy was so charming I almost considered not waking you to see how it played out.”
That got a chuckle out of Jim. “I think the real thing has been ah…
Slightly
better.”
After standing up from his chair, Jim piled the empty food containers and found a garbage chute on the divider between the entrance and the living room where he could dispose of them. Bones did the same with his bowl of sludge once he finished eating.
“We have to leave the room in thirty-five seconds,” Spock said as he followed them with watchful eyes.
“We know, Spock,” Jim said, amused by the reminder. “We’re leaving.”
“Oh, Jim, before we meet the mayors,” Bones said, stopping right in front of the door. “We thought maybe you can touch Spock’s hand during the meeting so you can participate. Or I can try to translate what th-”
“It’s alright,” Jim cut him off, smiling. “I don’t think my… jealousy yesterday was about that.” He looked at Bones, then at Spock, who for a Vulcan was showing too much impatience on his usually-collected expression. “I trust you. You’re some of the best officers in Starfleet. There isn’t anyone better for the job… not even me.”
Bones punched the code to open the door of the room and, next to Jim, Spock exhaled loudly.
“I’ll take the compliment,” Bones said, stepping out. “But… ‘some of the best’? Couldn’t you be a little hyperbolic about it?”
They both laughed and waited for Spock to lock the doors behind them before making their way down the corridor.
**********
Turns out Jim had been right to think he wouldn’t be affected by not actively participating in their second meeting with Hynn, Anha and Ohet.
Without his feelings about Spock’s and Bones’ relationship interfering, he just found the meeting boring. Plain boring. He did have his usual built-in curiosity pulsing vigorously in his mind, but he chose to control it and wait for a briefing rather than overwork his closest friends; they already had a lot on their plates.
Either way, before they signed any agreement, the Ergisolans allowed them some time alone to go through the conditions discussed by the two mayors, the first officer and the doctor, so Jim got the last word as captain anyway.
Not that he’d have been needed at all, really; the Ergisolans had agreed to join the Federation without asking for much. Since they had no weaponry, they were happy that in the event the planet was attacked they could find protection of some kind. They preferred that to building a local military force. In return, they offered their millennium-long research in telepathic medicine, and the promise to develop a translation device to communicate with psi-null species.
Jim found the terms agreeable, and he allowed Bones to sign a pre-deal. If the council of the Federation was to accept the conditions, Ergisol would officially become a member of the UFP.
To wrap things up, Hynn took them on a tour of every dome in the city. Despite the lack of commentary from the mayor about what they were seeing –she probably had an audience of one: Bones– Jim enjoyed it thoroughly. He loved how the domes integrated a natural aesthetic with the urban feel of the rest of the city. And the plants there were gorgeous, especially the flowers.
After that, the jamming signal got turned off and Jim opened his communicator to ask for a beam-up. This time, Scotty’s voice replied on the other side of the line. This time, the soft particle beams surrounded the three men and dematerialized them from the surface of Ergisol.
And then they were home.
**********
“I am not confident that he will be pleased by our visit,” Spock said.
“He will,” Jim replied. “He’ll just
pretend
he isn’t.”
After working the few hours left on their shifts, Jim and Spock had decided to visit Bones at his quarters. The doctor was on leave –M’Benga’s orders– until his telepathic abilities went away and his nervous system returned to normal. By quarantining in his room, Bones wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the myriad of thoughts and feelings that, otherwise, would bleed into his mind from other crew members.
“He is not a good patient,” Spock said, unamused.
“Neither one of us is, Spock.”
They stopped in front of the metallic door to Bones’ quarters. Jim raised his hand, ready to press the buzzer, but Spock’s hand darted through the air and quickly pressed the code to open the doors before Jim’s could even reach the panel.
“Muscle memory?” Jim teased him while the doors parted.
“That’s it, I’m changing the code tomorrow,” Bones’ voice grumbled from inside the room.
Despite the not-warm-at-all welcoming, Jim and Spock walked in and joined Bones on the table. Next to the computer, there were two cups of coffee –one cold, one warm– and a PADD the doctor was using. He wrote in it with a certain desperation, one hand on the pen, the other on the side of his head, messing up his own hair. He looked strangely charming.
“I can’t work like this,” Bones said, throwing the pen aside as a hint of blush rose on his face.
“Sorry,” Jim apologized, not one bit sorry for having thought Bones looked handsome. “What are- What
were
you doing?”
Bones sat back and met his eyes. “Writing down the whole experience down there. Trying to, anyways.”
“A report from your point of view would be very valuable to those in charge of second contact,” Spock said. “However, you should not overwork your mind. It is going through a lot of changes at the moment.”
Bones scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, I
know
that, believe me.”
“About that… How are you doing?” Jim asked. “I take it the telepathy isn’t gone yet.”
“It’s not,” Bones replied. “But I can’t read thoughts anymore, just vague, generic impressions.”
“Can you tell what I’m thinking about now?” Jim said, smiling playfully.
He thought about the fact that, if Bones hadn’t been hit by that damn phaser blast, they wouldn’t have figured out that
this
–whatever was going on between the three of them– was possible.
Bones frowned. “Not really, but I bet it has something to do with us.”
“I could have guessed that,” Spock said, raising a challenging eyebrow.
“Oh, could you, Spock?”
“Yes. On the one hand-”
At that point, Jim stopped listening to them. He had witnessed too many arguments between his stubborn friends to really care about their points, or the outcome. Arguments seemed to be their preferred way of communication anyway, so who was he to take that away from them?
He sat back and watched them, amused and very glad that, this time, he was part of it.
No longer an outsider.