"Are you alright, Captain?" asks Sulu, making quick work of Jim's bindings once he gets to the captain's side.

"Am now. Help Spock and Uhura," Jim orders grabbing the phaser from Sulu. "I'm going after them." Kirk and Scotty have already fled the building during the commotion of Sulu and their Scotty's entrance created but Jim takes off in pursuit. Kirk seems determined to get his ship and doctor back and maybe they're here for the same McCoy and just don't know it, but Jim has to be sure.

Jim runs down the winding alleyways in chase. His tactical instructors at the academy will probably wring his neck if they catch wind of his reckless and desperate pursuit but playing it safe and cautious could cost him his one chance to get to McCoy and he just can't risk that. He manages to close the distance but Kirk and Scotty are about to enter a docking port and if they get inside and on a ship, Jim's dead in the water. Whatever is going on between Kirk and Spock here, will play out before Jim can find away to get the doctor out.

The phaser is heavy in his hand as he weighs his limited options. The risk of shooting Kirk with a weapon from this universe is too much. Shooting himself is kind of an eerie prospect anyways. He knows a couple of psychologists he slept with back when he was a cadet that would have a field day with that. He aims above their heads and fires; the charge blowing out the sensors in the door. "Wait!" he yells, running towards the pair while they're temporally stopped.

Scotty's on him in an instant, blade pressed tight against Jim's throat like an attack dog waiting for his master to give the order to kill. There's no joy or lust for life in this Scotty's eyes the way there is in Jim's friend. If anything this Scotty reminds Jim of his father's old leather jacket he wore as a teen; beaten and worn from protecting its owner from the elements for far too long.

Jim raises his hands in surrender. "We're after the same thing," says Jim. He can feel the knife bit into his neck and draw a sliver of blood as his throat bobs against the edge in an effort to form words.

Kirk smiles; a little smirk that promises worlds of trouble. "Then we have a problem because there can only be one Captain of the Enterprise and one James T Kirk." He nods to Scotty who mimics his predatory smile.

"McCoy," coughs out Jim under the growing biting pressure of the knife. He's going to have to go straight for Kirk's soft spot. When it comes to his crew, Jim would do anything, even beg a manic to spare their lives while he falls on the sword. He can only hope this Kirk feels the same way.

Kirk raises his hand halting the Scotsman's blade. Scotty pulls back slightly, his distain on his face, but keeps the knife, the threat, close to Jim's neck.

"What about him?" Kirk snarls, his patients worn thin. The name itself is a touchy subject, like an open wound that refuses to close in the doctor's absence.

Jim stares at Kirk, his eyes never shying away from his counterpart's intensity. Jim doesn't usually back down and he certainly isn't going to run scared from himself. "Spock has him."

Crossing his arms, Kirk juts his hip out. An air of superiority rolls off of him the same way danger radiates from his core. "I already know that and when I'm done wasting time with you, I'm going to save him from that green blooded abomination."

Jim never thought himself capable of murder without provocation before, but now he can see there's something far darker than he ever imagined sleeping in the darkest corner of his soul waiting for the sweet taste of blood to set it free. "It won't be the McCoy you know." There's a tinge of regret in his voice because it doesn't matter how evil this person in the mirror looking back at him is, he recognizes that flicker of fear that passes over Kirk at the thought of losing what is clearly Jim's best friend in any universe, under any circumstances. He saw that same look on himself in the mirror of Leonard's apartment when he went to find McCoy.

Kirk steps right up to Jim, their noses mere centimetres apart. They're sharing the same air and are dangerously close to trying to occupy the same space and time. Every instinct Jim has, screams to take a step back but he holds his ground as Kirk snarls, "You have thirty seconds to live. Convince me to make it longer."

The whole story falls from Jim's lips in a big pile of unbelievable crazy and weird that has defined his Starfleet career. He doesn't try and spin it or alter events to hide his failure to protect McCoy from the cruel nature of the universe, just lays it bare before the one person who can condemn him the most for it but also understand it in a way no other soul could. "You don't trust me, and I wouldn't either, but this isn't about us. It's about McCoy. You'd do anything to protect him and I would too."

"If you're lying to me," Kirk presses his lips together tightly and glares at Jim. Words won't properly articulate what he'll do if he's being played, if some imposter came and used McCoy against him, but he tries anyways. "I'll kill you, your friends, everyone you've ever loved or ever known. In this universe and any other. I will set the galaxy on fire and roast you on a spit."

"I understand," says Jim because if there's one thing he knows to be true in this universe, it's that this Kirk will make good on his threat. "If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?"

"Well, let's just say that after you took my ship and now my doctor, I have a hard time trusting you. It's not very logical for you to not take your chance to kill me. So you should know, I have an agent on the Enterprise with orders to detonate a bomb should I not walk out of here." It's a threat Kirk had every intention of playing but until he gets to the bottom of the McCoy lie, he's not willing to implement it carelessly. If push comes to shove though, and the man he's looking at isn't his friend, he knows McCoy would rather die than be a permanent slave of Spock's. One way or another, his friend will be free. He owes the doctor nothing less.

Confronted with the doctor in question, behind the bruises, cuts and blood, it looks like the man that drove a broken beer bottle into the back of the Andorian bounty hunter that thought he could jump Jim from behind while he was busy teaching a card cheat a lesson. It sounds like the same voice that whispered recent injuries and weak spots about his opponents before sparing matches while Kirk was making a name for himself at the academy. Every detail is echoed; nights over drinks discussing their plans to make the universe bend at their feet, and Kirk knows McCoy almost as well as he knows himself. This imposter playing at being him is wrong, he has to be. There's only one person Kirk's ever trusted to have his back and he's looking at him now; if McCoy's a fake... If someone dared to make a cheap copy...

It's an unlikely scenario. One in which the only conclusion can be that Leonard is dead and Spock will do anything to get his whore back. If McCoy was alive and Spock was trying to pass off a second hand version of the doctor, McCoy would raise hell and turn the Enterprise into a floating tomb at such an insult. As much of a challenge as Spock has been, McCoy shouldn't be taken as lightly as most people take him. The doctor is a ravenous tiger, cunning and deadly. He's also a survivor. It isn't some thieving Vulcan that's going to claim the right of slaying such force. Spock cannot have the satisfaction of destroying such a man.

More importantly, Kirk needs this alternate 'Captain Kirk,' who claims to have it all, to be a liar. All the glory that's due Jim, the ship, the empire, it's all shared glory with the one person who saw greatness in Kirk when everyone else wrote him off. McCoy needs to be here to be Kirk's right hand man and reap the rewards that they've worked so hard for. He'd always known he'd let McCoy become a key part of his foundation, a tactical error he is willing to over look, but he never knew just how much he needed McCoy until Chekov had lost contact with the doctor for a week aboard Enterprise. One week that could make this alternate universe theory grow wings and take flight.

Jim glances over the edge of the rock formation he and Sulu are perching behind in time to see Kirk point his phaser at the back of Uhura's head. It's like watching a live version of the chess games he plays with Spock back home, only instead of bruised egos at the end, lives are on the line. Jim feels ill seeing someone he considers a friend being treated so cruel by his hand. It makes him even more grateful to be able to go back to a universe where these people are his friends and not his enemies.

It takes everything Jim has to not leap over the rocks and rescue McCoy himself. He has to give Leonard credit for still being on his feet despite looking like he's gone twenty rounds with an angry Gorn. Every inch of McCoy's battered being is Jim's fault for not noticing him missing sooner and now that he's actually laid eyes on his best friend, he has to exercise patience and restraint; things that are not his forte under the best of circumstances. There's more than one fox in the hen house down there and both Kirk and Spock are willing to kill McCoy out of spite.

"We send the prisoners over at the same time," dictates Spock.

Except for the beard, the Spocks are rather similar. Vulcan neutrality does wonders for hiding a sadist streak and Jim wonders just what lurks beneath the carefully maintained surface of his science officer. He can see his Spock out of the corner of his eye behind another rock with his Uhura and still he can't look at these alternate versions and not think of them as his friends. His gut twists at the thought of McCoy waking up in this horror show of a universe to what he must have thought were his friends only to be treated anything but. He knows all too well suffering at the hands of someone who should have protected him and remembers how gutted McCoy was after his divorce. He'd gladly step on any landmine in Leonard's place to spare the doctor any of this.

Jim watches captivated as Spock lets go of McCoy but Leonard doesn't move, just stands there staring at Kirk. It breaks Jim's heart that his friend would have to fear him and can't imagine what's going through the doctor's head. He wills McCoy to move, to step away from Spock and go with Kirk so he's out of the line of fire. Once McCoy's in the shuttle, Jim and the rest of the away team along with Kirk's Scotty will neutralize Spock and then Jim can make his plea and case to Kirk to get McCoy back. He's prepared to take Kirk out too if it comes to it.

"What are you waiting for, Bones?" Kirk asks impatiently raising his phaser toward Uhura's back. If the whole thing is a trap and Spock's making his move, Kirk will kill them all: the Vulcan, Uhura and their sentimental weak counterparts.

"Proceed, Doctor," urges Spock, low and dangerous.

McCoy finally starts to move forward, settling a few of Kirk's nerves. He's never doubted McCoy before and maybe that's Spock's game after all, that every moment from this one forward, a little voice in the back of Kirk's mind will ask if that's really McCoy.

"That concludes our business," states Spock once Uhura reaches his side.

"It does. Till next time Spock." Kirk winks at the Vulcan before grabbing McCoy by the shirt sleeve to begin walking towards their waiting shuttle; Scotty covering them with his rifle the whole time.

"You alright, Bones?" asks Kirk. He needs to know exactly how much he needs to make Spock suffer before he kills him. Everything done to Leonard will be returned to the Vulcan tenfold. Mostly he just needs to hear the from the man himself that he's going to be alright.

McCoy smiles. It doesn't quite reach his eyes but it's warm enough. "I'm fine, Jim."

Kirk stops walking going rigid, tense and still. It's something so simple, so innocuous that no one else would notice but it's like a dagger through the heart to Kirk. Hadn't truly believed the imposter story until just this minute; secretly hoping it was a lie, away to get an agent close enough to make an attempt on Kirk's life.

Voice dark and dangerous, Kirk hisses, "Bones only ever calls me, Captain." When other's doubted his claim, McCoy believed in him. Leonard knew he'd rise above the others to earn his place in the captain's seat of the best ship the empire could offer and refuses to address him as anything less.

There's a look of betrayal on Kirk. His hands coil into fists as anger boils his blood. How dare the universe give him McCoy back only to snatch him away like he was never there to start with. How dare Spock try to pass off something in McCoy's place. How dare this lie stand before him like he has any right to wear that face and carry that name.

Kirk raises his phaser and turns back to Spock. "What the hell are you trying to pull?"

Jim's mentally counting the number of steps until McCoy is close enough to grab and pull out of danger when Kirk decides to light this place up like fireworks; a tentative plan going to hell in the space between heartbeats. He can only watch in horror as McCoy pushes Kirk out of the way of Spock's phaser and go tumbling to the ground out of sight behind an outcropping of rocks.

Jim's on his feet and running before Sulu can grab him and keep him safely tucked behind the rocks. Several security officers appear from behind Spock's shuttle giving aid to Spock and Uhura. The away team lays down cover fire as Jim fights his way towards McCoy. He's seen neither McCoy nor Kirk since they went down and Jim just prays the doctor's still in one piece. A desperate ache drives him forward, dodging phaser blasts and triumphing in bouts of hand to hand.

"Bones!" The frantic cry echoes off the cliffs that reach like gnarled fingers towards the sky. Jim pushes himself harder, runs faster to get to the rocks McCoy and Kirk are behind.

"Open your eyes you bastard!" he hears Kirk yell and the hair on the back of Jim's neck stands on end. It's the worst sight imaginable that greets him when he finally gets to McCoy. Leonard's prone on the ground rapidly losing blood like he has an endless supply.

"Oh god, Bones," whimpers Jim as he crashes to his knees next to McCoy, his hand going to the doctor's neck to check for a pulse. Kirk spares him a glance but otherwise focuses on keeping his hands over the wound and around the jagged rock protruding from McCoy's gut.

A moment of relief shoots through Jim as Leonard leans into his hand. McCoy's here, warm and solid under his hand. It does nothing to alleviate the fear that's threatening to strangle Jim. Self-incrimination wants to tear Jim apart like a wild animal and if he can just make good on his promise to get McCoy home alive, he'll let it. He can't have gotten this close only to fail. If he ever wanted his own legend to be true, it's now: Jim Kirk doesn't fail.

"Can't handle two of right now," whispers McCoy before passing out.

Jim squeezes McCoy's hand because Leonard has to know that Jim's here, he came for him, Leonard wasn't forgotten. McCoy's clearly fought like hell just to get to this point but Jim needs him to fight just a little bit longer, just long enough to get him home and help. McCoy needs to know he's not alone anymore.

Hands clamp down on Jim's shoulder and he tightens his grip on Leonard's hand. He'll fight to stay here, no one from this universe is going to tear McCoy away from him again. He struggles against the hands, trying to shake them loose as they make to move him to the side.

"Captain!" shouts Uhura in Jim's ear, snapping him out of his ironclad focus on the doctor. Jim looks up, surprised to see her. "Let Spock take a look," she says gently but firmly pulls him out of Spock's way as he kneels next to the dying man to run a tricorder over him.

"Get away from him!" snaps Kirk, like he's prepared to flay the Vulcan if he so much as lays a finger on the doctor.

"He can help," snarls Uhura right back. Spock isn't a doctor nor is his field of study medicine but out of everyone, he's had the sense to grab a medkit from somewhere. Out of all the senior staff that McCoy has routinely forced to attend survival first aid courses beyond the mandatory requirement, Jim can't think of anyone more capable than Spock to offer assistance in this moment.

Kirk looks like he's about to argue for a moment but thinks better of it under Uhura's unrelenting stare. She's vicious like a mother bear trying to protect her cubs and in the end they all want the same thing here: save Doctor McCoy. Kirk jumps to his feet; his violent energy demanding release. He needs a punching bag of flesh and bone and doesn't have to look hard to find his first victim wearing a red security shirt.

Jim rubs his hands over his face, trying to collect himself. He's not going to do McCoy any good if he's falling apart. He looks around a world that has gone mostly silent. Spock's security force is mostly dead and those unfortunate bastards that aren't that lucky are feeling the ferocity of Kirk's wrath. Spock himself is nothing more than a vanishing shuttle in the distance. It seems he and Uhura have escaped to continue their murderous rampage through the galaxy together. It's not Jim's problem. He needs to get McCoy home, he needs... "Scotty!"

"On it, Captain!" replies the Scotsman as he drags the portable transwarp transporter from the shuttle and begins initiating the sequence to program it to get home.

"Spock?" asks Jim, hoping for good news. He's never been more proud of his people and what they're capable of than he's been during this harrowing mission. Somehow they manage to eclipses their last impossible victory, rising to new heights and crashing through expectations like they were paper. Every single one of them has proven their mettle and why they deserve to be serving on the crown jewel of the Federation.

"There is nothing I can do, Captain. Doctor McCoy needs advanced medical help that I nor anyone here can provide," answers Spock without breaking concentration from his scans.

"Is he stable enough to transport?"

Spock looks up at Jim and it's written on the Vulcan's face. Jim would kill for Leonard's trained smiles and reassurances at this moment. "Uncertain."

"You're not taking him anywhere," states Kirk, phaser drawn mere millimetres from Jim's head. He's not going to lose McCoy. Real or doppelganger, he saved Kirk's life. They might not have the same history but that doesn't mean they can't have the same future.

"If he stays here, he'll die," says Jim calmly, though he feels anything but. He's not just talking about McCoy's wounds either; McCoy's a light that's far too bright for this universe, he'll smother under this universe's weight. He knows what's going through his counterpart's mind because Jim's willing to fight tooth and claw for McCoy too. If their situation was reversed, he's not sure he'd let Bones go either.

The phaser never wavers as Kirk replies, "I've got people who owe me favors. I'll have him patched up and good as new in no time."

"And what's the plan? He's not your McCoy, he's not from here. You're just going to convince him to be one of your harbingers of death? Cause this McCoy is a healer... down to his bones. Even knowing who and what you are, that the universe would be better off without a murderer like you, he still saved your life. Are you going to lie to him and pretend to be me and we're both stuck here? Cause that might work for awhile but eventually he'll see the darkness in your soul isn't some act to survive here. Are you going to betray him like that? A world like this is going to chew him up and spit him out, taking everything that makes that man our best friend with it. Are you telling me you're cold hearted enough to do that to him?" demands Jim.

Kirk looks from Jim to McCoy, pale and unconscious in the dirt of a planetoid that means nothing to anyone in an irrelevant corner of the galaxy. His sworn enemy is working hard to try and save the doctor's life. While he knows this isn't his friend, he wants so desperately for it to be true. He needs it to be true. If his doppelganger hadn't opened his damned mouth, he'd be willing to give anyone of those scenarios a try. Even a shadow of McCoy is better than nothing and he's willing to fight and cling to every scrap he can get, because in this universe and every other, he can count on McCoy to save his life. He owes it to Leonard to not screw him now.

Kirk lowers the phaser but grabs a fist full of Jim's shirt and pulls him close. "You better promise me you're going to take care of him."

Jim can see it in Kirk's eyes that there's no force in this universe that will be able to hold him back from gutting Jim if Leonard should so much as get a hangnail from this point on. Honestly, Jim's pretty sure he deserves nothing less for having McCoy been taken in the first place. Trust McCoy to inspire that kind of protection from a cold blooded psychopath. It's the one thing the two Kirks can agree upon wholeheartedly. "I promise," swears Jim and he can't think of anything he's meant more. "Thank you."

Kirk sneers at the gratitude but releases Jim. He stands there alternating between watching Spock do what little he can for McCoy while Scotty works to get them home, and the empty space Captain Spock's shuttle disappeared into.

Jim tosses the extra bracelet to Uhura to securely wrap around McCoy's wrist. There's minutes left but Jim has to know, "What are you going to do now?" He felt the loss of his best friend for six long days, he can't imagine what it would be like to know for certain that feeling was going to last forever the way his counterpart knows know. Jim still has the luxury of hoping they can get Leonard home and into the hands of Enterprise's skilled medical team and that everything will okay. He's going to hold onto that thought until, god forbid, M'Benga pries his hand from Leonard's cold lifeless one.

Kirk keeps his eyes on Spock and Uhura as they try and stabilize McCoy, like a guardian angel watching to make sure no mistakes are made. "Take my ship back. Head to Earth and get Joanna McCoy."

Uneasiness stirs in Jim. They don't have the time to save a Joanna from this world but McCoy would never survive hearing something happened to Joanna even if it wasn't his own. "You're not going to hurt her are you?"

Kirk is silent for a moment. "No. But she can stand next to me on the bridge while I destroy Vulcan." Danger flashes in his eyes and Jim shudders remembering the same determination he had when he promised himself he'd avenge Pike. Vulcan's going to burn, there's no doubt about that.

"You don't have to do that." There's still time for this universe to redeem itself. Jim knows Kirk has the ability to make it something worthwhile, something to be proud of. Better still, Kirk could do something that makes McCoy's sacrifice here today worth something.

Kirk looks back at McCoy and Spock's and Uhura's frantic efforts to save him with their limited field medic training and wonders if there was anyone that loyal and dedicated with his McCoy in his final moments. "Yes I do."

It won't do any good. There are few things that can get Jim to change his mind and one of them is dead in this world, but he has to try. "You can change things. There's no need for all this violence. You and Spock could make an unstoppable team." He's not sure he could bury the hatchet with someone that killed his best friend but past experience has proven he can form a shaky alliance with one for mutual gain.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same," accuses Kirk. "You crossed over to another universe ready to tear it apart to get him back. The least I can do is tear it apart for revenge. Would you be my ally if I'd killed him?"

Jim thinks long and hard. In the end, the answer is simple and honest. "No."

Kirk smirks. "We're not that different after all. Just get him home and keep him safe. It's hard to find that kind of loyalty," he whispers before patting Jim on the back. With nothing more to do here he walks back to his shuttle.

Scotty swings his phaser rifle over his shoulder, looking rather smug about the carnage he reaped before following after Kirk. "A leopard can't change its spots," he whispers to Jim as he passes by, as though his faith in Kirk knew they were going to war and while Jim may try and pass himself off as something different, all roads lead to this outcome.

"Ready, Captain," shouts Scotty triumphantly bringing the portable transport unit over to where Spock and Uhura are still kneeling next to McCoy.

"Mr Scott," says Jim moving to stand next to his team, "get us the hell out of here."

There's something eerily familiar about the gentle buzz of background noise that manages to penetrate the thick darkness of Leonard's mind. It's comforting in its rhythm and there's a faint smell that's as welcoming to him as a bottle of brandy shared with Jim back home; he's in a medbay. It feels like home and he wants to wrap himself in this made up comfort for the rest of his days.

There's a throbbing in his head and things are a little fuzzy around the edges but the last clear thought he has is pushing Kirk out of the way of Spock's deadly wrath. There's some fleeting memory, more of a feeling really, that Jim, his Jim with the warm smile and cocksure grin had been there. A faint echo of someone talking about going home rattles around his brain but it's as elusive as trying to catch a ghost walking in the halls. He should be dead and he's not. There's no way death would leave him with this insatiable ache feeding on every nerve ending and muscle in his body. It's not agony, there're drugs in his system weighing him down and dulling the sting but they're not strong enough to remove the pain completely; only death can do that. Clearly Spock or Kirk aren't through with him yet.

McCoy cracks an eye open and groans as the light pierces his skull like a hot blade. It's a reminder of the pain this universe inflicts on souls for just existing and something McCoy's become all too familiar with. He goes to throw his arm over his face and block out the vengeful accusation the world is throwing at him, when his arm refuses to move. Alarm starts shorting out his brain, his breathing speeding up as realizes he's right back where this whole never ending nightmare began. Spock warned him about still being on the Enterprise. The sweet thought of freedom was nothing more than a cruel trick his mind was playing in him, having gotten on the same page as everyone else in this universe; if only his soul had gotten that memo too.

He's about to start struggling in earnest when he glances down towards his arm and finds a mop of blond hair. His arm's not restrained at all, rather Jim's head's laying on it. And it has to be his Jim because only his Jim would sit with him all night and risk screwing his back up by sleeping hunched over him like this.

He can't help but stare, but the more he does, the more he catalogues the lines of tension in Jim's face that form when he's under stress. He's sleeping which means Jim's exhausted himself and probably hasn't been sleeping or eating properly since Leonard last nagged him about either. If universal constants have remained the same while McCoy's been gone, the moron is probably sporting a few injuries under that proper command gold uniform of his, that medical doesn't know about. For the first time in he can't remember, he feels safe and whole. Leonard almost doesn't want to wake him up so he can savor this moment for all it's worth, but he needs his hand back if he's going to hold something to quench his parched throat.

"Jim," he croaks. It's so quiet, he can barely hear it so there's no way it's going to penetrate Jim's thick skull.

He tries again a little louder. "Jim." It catches in his dry throat and ignites a coughing fit that rattles his whole body. Jim's eyes snap open at the distressing sound and if Leonard could catch his breath he'd wave off his captain's growing panic. He knows he's caused his friend enough worry over the last few days.

Jim's heart starts to beat faster and he's sitting upright and sliding off his stool in an instant. "I'll get M'Benga."

"No," chokes Leonard and he shakes his head to make sure his point is made in the absence of his usual commanding tone. He doesn't need to be fussed over and he certainly doesn't want to be alone. If Jim walks out that door, even if it's just to grab one of Leonard's staff, there's a chance this could all be a dream and Jim won't be back. McCoy just wants to savor this. "Water."

Jim sits back down and pours a glass of water from the jug sitting on the side table. He pointedly ignores McCoy's scowl when he refuses to let Leonard try and juggle the glass by himself. "I can grab M'Benga if you want. He's just down the hall putting together his surgical report. Or Nurse Chapel if you'd rather. Anything you want, Bones, just name it."

The water is cool and perfect or perhaps it just tastes better because he's home. McCoy licks his dry lips. There's a thousand questions he could ask, some he probably should ask, like what's his prognosis and how the hell did Jim kobayashi maru his way out of this one but he's home, he's finally home and that's all that matters this second. "Nah. I'm good, I'm home."

His eyes start to slide shut, far too heavy to keep open, so he's definitely on drugs. He's just about to drift when a troubling thought stabs through his chest. He looks Jim straight in the eye, because no matter the truth, he needs to know. "I am home right?" The only thing worse than being stuck in that hell would be if he got Jim stuck there with him.

Jim squeezes Leonard's hand and he realizes that Jim never actually let go of it. "You're home, Bones," answers the captain with absolute conviction.

"Good," clips Leonard before settling back on his pillow. The tension drains out of his limbs and he soaks up the warm comfort of the Yorktown medbay blankets. "We'll talk about ya riskin your fool neck ta come get me from that hell hole later."

"At length," agrees Jim, the sparkle finally coming back to his eyes. "Once you're out of here. I look forward to it." For the first time in his life, he's actually looking forward to getting chewed out by McCoy.

"Jus ya wait... teach ya to do stupid things..." mumbles Leonard as he finally nods off to dreams that aren't bathed in blood and fear.

"Just sleep. I'll be here to make sure nothing happens," reassures Jim. Nothing in this universe is going to tear him away from McCoy's bedside.

Epilogue

Two weeks later

The view from his room is starting to get boring. The caged feeling isn't quelling his need to run away either. As grateful as Leonard is to be out of the other universe, alive, and back in his own, it isn't truly home until he's in his quarters back on Enterprise. He sure as hell isn't going to let Jim know he thinks of that flying tin can as home though. Since the ship isn't ready yet he'll settle for quarters in Yorktown with his stuff. The more analytical part of his brain whispers it's not his desire to escape medbay that wants him to run, rather the company in the room with him now.

He knows that Spock would never hurt him, and that the monster from his nightmares is another being completely but he can't stop the tremor in his hands every time Spock steps into the room. He knows Spock's noticed it too. The full blown panic attack accompanied by the screaming the first time Spock stepped into Leonard's hospital room almost two weeks ago was a dead giveaway that things can't just be swept under the rug.

If he has to white knuckle it around the first officer for awhile Leonard can tough it out. He's not going to let that pointed eared elf from the other universe steal the life McCoy desperately wanted back. If he can survive that world he can tread the murky waters here until he can get his feet underneath him and not panic when Spock steps into a room. He will be able to look at Chekov without guilt and quit rubbing his finger when he's around Sulu. The phantom pain across his chest will cease if he just keeps watching Chapel's gentle touches as she works to repair the scarred tissue covering his body. He'll stop waiting for Jim to pull off the mask of his best friend and reveal the massacring lunatic he read about back there. Leonard clings to these ideas with everything he has because, damn it he's a doctor and he can't do his job if he's twitching in a corner. He brought Kirk back from the dead and dragged Spock's wounded ass across a planet, he's got this.

"How'd you figure it out?" asks McCoy, straining to keep his voice as level and smooth as possible. He doesn't know if Jim's noticed the tremor today; he can't take his eyes off of Spock who is aware enough to keep his distance from the doctor whenever possible.

Kirk nods towards Spock who's lurking near the door instead of standing next to McCoy's bed. "Spock found the security footage that the other Spock thought he destroyed."

"It was an error that allowed us to track his movements to the transporter he used to beam you both back to his universe," elaborates Spock with as much warmth as a Vulcan can convey. He lacks Uhura's ability to provide reassurance and care with gentle words and touches but he recognizes his usual approach will not smooth McCoy's edges as of yet.

McCoy looks suspiciously at Spock. "Are ya sayin you made a mistake?" He'll have to file that gold nugget away for another day when he can joke and poke at the Vulcan with the ease they used to share.

"It was not I that made the miscalculation," corrects Spock, then adds, "and it does seem unlikely that such an error was simply an oversight, given the precision and calculations that would have been required to attempt such an undertaking."

Kirk sits a little straighter. He hadn't given it much thought then, only assumed that they had gotten lucky. "So he didn't think we'd be able to figure out how to rescue Bones, so it wouldn't matter if we knew what happened?"

"On the contrary, Captain. Given that the other universe had counterpart versions of all of us, he would have had sufficient data to calculate the odds of us figuring out the technology."

"He wanted us to find them?" asks Jim, because that seems like a tactical error and Spock doesn't make tactical errors like that.

"It seems the most likely outcome."

Whatever the larger plan might have been, it doesn't matter now. That Spock is a whole universe away with a severally pissed off Kirk on his ass. Kirk looks at McCoy gratefully, though the doctor is unusually quiet. "Well whatever happened, you're home now Bones."

McCoy's eyes drift over to the windowsill on the other side of the room where an over confident and smug Kirk beams back at him. "Are you home, Bones?"

Leonard ignores the hallucination and looks back at Jim. With a forced smile he agrees, "Yeah, home."

The End?

Super BIG thanks to everyone that read this and or reviewed. You make it worthwhile.

** This seemed like the most logical point to end the story despite knowing that McCoy has a long way to go before his story really ends but what comes next would seem like two different sections if I kept it with this story as planned. So I guess that means it's sequel time.

The Darkest Clouds of My Soul Are on the Horizon will deal with McCoy's recovery from this twisted mirror universe.

I hope if you've enjoyed this one, you'll join me for the next one.

Side note: for those of you that enjoy some good whump of Karl Urban characters, I recommend checking out Dancing In The Dark85 who puts those characters through their fair share of drama ;)