A/N: I let my Beta read this and she wanted me to put it up. XD Nothing huge. I got bored and... this was the product of it :] Reviews VERY welcome :D Enjoy!

Jim's head was swimming. They weren't on any particular mission, just coasting leisurely through space as they did every so often. He had been having a problem with headaches since their visit to a distant planet – on a Federation declaration of peace, which was very successful. The air on that certain planet had felt thick, unlike anything else he had breathed in before. It started four days ago, just as a dull throb that seemed more of an annoyance than anything else. Gradually, it got worse, escalating into a sharp pain that lanced through his temples every time he blinked. He finally just closed his eyes while sitting on the Bridge, putting his hand over his eyes to shield the florescent lights further.

"Keptan…?" Jim didn't need to look up to know who that was.
"Yes?" His voice was low, every sound echoed through his head.

Spock glanced back at his Superior, eyebrow raised slightly at his shortness towards the other crewmembers.

"Are you feeling alright?" Sulu chimed in, swiveling in his chair to face Jim.

"Just tired." Blue eyes slowly opened, the lights felt like needles being jabbed into his eyes and he resisted the urge to close them once more. "I might just take leave, Spock you have the helm." He muttered, rising from his seat.

His legs felt like jelly, but he made his way out, groping his way down metallic corridors until he finally managed to get into his room and collapse onto the bed. His legs curled up tight towards his chest as numb hands gripped his hair. White teeth clenched together in a futile effort to relieve some of the pain; but nothing worked. Those needles were digging deeper and deeper into his brain, rendering him completely useless as hot tears snaked down his cheeks and he moaned helplessly into the mattress. Every muscle in his body was rigid. Relaxation, the thing he wanted more than anything else in the universe at that very moment, was impossible.

He didn't even hear his doors hiss open, or know anybody had entered until a cool hand pressed itself against his forehead. A voice drifted through his head, sounding as if it were underwater. He was drowning, being pulled under by invisible hands that clutched at his body, fingers wrapping around his throat. Darkness dragged him down, unrelenting and unforgiving.

"Can you figure out what is doing this, Doctor?"

McCoy was scanning over Jim's sweat-covered body, eyebrows stitching together in concern. "There is a plant that releases a neurotoxin, specifically a nerve agent… he must have inhaled it while he was down there." The Doctor grumbled some choice words before getting to work trying to find the best antidote for Jim's condition.

Spock knelt down before his Capt— no, his friend. His breathing was constricted and troubling in the way he was panting; his eyes were shut tight as if he were flinching away from something. Spock's half-Vulcan heart sunk in his chest as his fingers brushed over Jim's throbbing temples. T'hy'la… Gently, he found the meld points…

Immediately Spock was overcome with a degree of sadness at how much pain swarmed around in Jim Kirk's mind. Wave after wave of anguish shot past his own body, a streak of red and black that found its way to his Captain's body, slamming into it like a battering ram. Jim's cry for help echoed throughout the barren space in his mind, a sound that sending a terrifying chill down Spock's spine.

He released the meld, eyes red with unshed tears and his pulse elevated. McCoy had waited for him to separate before he injected a potent sedative into the feverish body laying on the gurney. The two men watched as slowly, almost reluctantly, Jim's body uncurled itself a fraction and, for what it was worth, he relaxed.

"Will he…" Spock cleared his throat, trying to rid the lump that rose in his throat, "Will he survive?"

McCoy hesitated. He never hesitated. Something of a joke was always made when Jim ran a fever or felt under the weather. The doctor's face drained of its color somewhat, Spock noted.
"I… don't know."