This story and "In Silence" are two of my favorite Star Trek fanfictions. You have a gift for making me feel like I'm really there watching what's happening! I hope that one day you'll be able to publish some more Star Trek TOS hurt/comfort stories about Kirk. Thanks for writing these!

Great stuff! Loved this! :)

Excellent story. Thank you.

I love this story! It is all that I wanted to be at the end of that episode and more! Thanks for writing :D

Love this story ;) Thank you for sharing!

Great story.

This is wonderful! So many episodes end without showing the emotional repercussions on characters (or discussing even the physical repercussions - Spock's injuries here, for example -) and this is a great wrap-up to an episode that really must have been heavy on McCoy. Love how you manage to put focus on Kirk, Spock and McCoy as individuals, too.

There were some small errors ("a momentary unbalance," "to be allowing McCoy to," "Humans," "relaxes subtlety," "let that be lesson," etc.), but they didn't detract unduly from the story.
The little bits of humor ("Your First Officer is suffering from a concussion and a broken wrist, as well as the misguided assumption that he's a medical professional") tempered the angsty narration well. The emphasis on how early in the series this is and how long a five-year appointment seems provided a nice secondary theme.

Very nice, I really enjoyed this. :-) I think I've only ever seen one (very short) tag to this episode before, definitely not the usual. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were all very much in character, and it was interesting to see a point of view from back when things were first starting. Thanks for writing!

Excellent. I always thought that Kirk should have had some symptoms from the creature touching him. Thanks for filling that in!

Very nicely written and many nice moments of interaction. The "Kirk ignores injuries" thing is done often, both in this 'verse and AOS. It works here, I think, because of the newness of Kirk to command. He is not the wild risk-taker that AOS Kirk is, and he's not the seasoned captain he will become. I can absolutely see him think that command is more important than taking care of seemingly minor ailments.

I also thinks this does a nice job setting the three up for their future mutual-dependency.

Thank you for sharing.

Thank you ! I love this story , o sad for Mc Coy !

Welcom Home! Nicely Done! I look forward to reading more from you especially anything McCoy focused with a lot of Spock and Kirk thrown in for good measure.

This is fantastically well written. There are an abundance of details in this that caught my attention and kept me hanging on every word. McCoy's guilt and grieving mixed with Jim's determination to kept doing his duty is just wonderful. Then you added in physical detail, like Jim's identification with the ship's status and the sensations that run through a body before losing consciousness. You know your stuff, and it was a pleasure to read. :-D