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“Jim, you’re getting purple spots all over you, dammit.” Bones said as he chased Jim around the Enterprise as Kirk attempted to get some work done.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Jim shrugged.
“Dammit, Jim, if you don’t let me give you medicine it’s only going to get worse.” Bones urged.
Jim sighed, “Bones, I’ll be fine. You should probably get back to the medical wing.”
“I warned you.” Bones shook his head and headed off in the opposite direction.
A few hours later, Bones was taking inventory of the medication on board when Chekov stumbled into the medical wing.
“Ehm…” Chekov stuttered as Bones turned to face him.
“What is it? Oh, God, is it Jim?”
“The Captain doesn’t look very good.” Chekov frowned.
“I fucking warned him.” Bones walked ahead of Chekov angrily.
They found Jim nearly passed out in the Captain’s chair covered in purple spots and sweat. He was shivering and sneezing and looked like a mess. “Dammit, Jim.” Bones muttered as he hoisted Jim up and half-carried, half-dragged Jim to the sickbay. Bones took him to his personal office and sat him down on the couch. Bones left the room and came back with a shot and jabbed it into Jim’s neck.
“Ow, jeez!”
“Shut up, you don’t get to complain because I told you it would get bad. The medicine should take about an hour to kick in. Would’ve been less had you listened to me in the first place.”
“Thanks, Bones.” Jim sniffled.
Bones reached into a little cabinet, “Here,” he said tossing Jim a blanket. Jim immediately wrapped himself up in it. “Holler if you need anything; I have to get back to work.” Bones added and walked out the door.
It probably wasn’t even ten minutes later when Bones heard Jim yell his name. “Bones! Bo-nes!”
Bones opened the door to his office, “What?”
Jim was curled up on the couch with one arm extended towards the table. His fingers were wiggling as he ‘tried’ to reach a box of tissues on the end of the table. “Bones, I can’t reach the tissues.” Jim whimpered like a sick 5-year-old.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Bones rolled his eyes and nudged the box forward and Jim pulled it close.
“Thanks, Bones.” Jim smiled.
“Yeah.” Bones grumbled and walked back out.
After finally finishing the inventory, Bones sat down on a gurney as he reviewed in his mind what he had to do next. Just as he was about to get up, he heard Jim calling out his name again. Bones glanced over at the medicine case and thought about giving him a sedative to knock him out, but knowing Jim he would have some kind of reaction to it.
“Yes, Jim?” Bones said, slightly annoyed.
“Could you get me some orange juice?”
“Orange...” Bones sighed, “Okay, hold on.” Bones rubbed his temples as he searched the coolers in the sickbay for some juice. “Do we even keep juice here?” Bones asked aloud. Finally, he found a carton and took it to Jim. Bones was hoping the kid finally passed out but Jim was wide-eyed and still looking miserable when Bones returned.
“Thanks, Bones.” Jim said and smiled again. At least he was grateful for making Bones slave away.
“Welcome, Jim.” Bones turned to walk back out but Jim stopped him.
“Can I ask one more favor, Bones?” Jim asked. Bones noted that Jim put on a real good ‘helpless little kid’ voice so he was wary of what Jim was gonna ask him to do.
“What is it?”
Jim hesitated for a minute, “Bones, can you rub my back?”
Bones looked up and sighed and then flung his arms in the air, “Sure. Move over.”
Jim moved back into the couch giving Bones room to sit down on the edge. Jim rolled over onto his stomach, and Bones’ hand hovered over Jim’s back before coming down roughly. At first Bones moved his hand around awkwardly but then relaxed about it and before he could realize it, Jim fell asleep. Bones pulled the blanket back over Jim’s shoulders and headed out of the office. He paused before opening the door and looked back at the sleeping captain and smiled. Not that he would admit it out loud to anyone, but Bones realized that it was a pretty good feeling to be genuinely needed.