Tired

Sometime far too close to dawn for his comfort, Kirk was approaching Doctor McCoy's suite of rooms. He had a heavy load in his arms that practically guaranteed a stab of soul-curdling pain from his broken ribs with every single step. With each breath he got the urge to lay down and whimper. Needless to say he had a definite tendency to stagger to port.

The journey wasn't far. He paid for every last inch of it. He was half terrified he'd miss the room in the blinding light of the hallway. When he got to what he thought was the right room, he checked the number twice, blinking and shaking his head, feeling his own blood spray across his face.

He leaned on the door frame and nearly slid down it, nearly dumped his awkward bundle on the floor. He caught her under the arm at the last instant, made a wild grab for the door panel.

The doctor, bless him, hadn't locked his room.

Bones looked up from an earnest-sounding conversation with Spock and dropped his drink.

"Jim!" he sputtered in shock and dove forward as Kirk started to tilt. The doctor caught him, jarring his ribs, tearing an anguished sound from him. The ambassador spilled from his suddenly senseless fingers, landing in an inelegant heap on the floor. He heard the whirring of a medical scanner. Heard Spock calling for assistance...

"The ship!" Kirk snarled, grabbing at the Doctor's shirt, making a fist in the fabric. "Sickbay."

A flare of surprise in Bones' clear blue eyes. "But Captain-"

"Sickbay. Both of us," he demanded, reaching out for the ambassador's sleeve, pulling her close. Bones looked up at Spock, and he must have called a beam-up. The next thing he recalled clearly, he was on the transporter pad, his face pressed to the cool metal. Scotty was shouting something-

Then nothing.

He heard the beeping of the overhead monitor first. It seeped in around the edges of his awareness, mingling with his dreams. He jerked awake with the realization of what the sound was, what it meant. He caught himself on the edge of the bed, was abruptly pushed back down by strong hands. He blinked up, blearily.

"Now, are you going to behave, or do I have to break out the restraints?" Said a dry, familiar voice. Kirk couldn't quite get his face in focus, but...

"Bones," he said with a wince. A hypo hissed at his shoulder. "What-" he started to snap, sharp as a whip.

"It's to help with the muscle spasms. I've kept the lights down for you, your pupils are sensitive right now." There was busy noise, the sound of things being shuffled on a tray." I don't suppose you care to tell me what happened."

Kirk hesitated.

"Not...especially." He pushed himself up. "The ambassador..."

A pause.

"Alive. Worse off than you are, that's for sure." Another pause. "I don't know what was pumped into you, but don't think for a second I don't-"

"Doctor." A no-nonsense baritone, off to the left...he couldn't quite see him...

"Mr. Spock, " Kirk said lightly. "You'll forgive me, I didn't see you there."

The vague blue shape broke away from the wall, approached the bed until his face was nearly clear.

"The chancellor is dead," Spock said pointedly. "He was murdered."

Kirk narrowed his eyes.

"Now, we don't know that-" insisted the doctor.

"Doctor, please," Spock said sharply, with the definite air of being at the far end of a long argument.

"Gentlemen, I don't know what you are implying, but the death of the chancellor is obviously a great tragedy," Kirk said smoothly.

"And his murderer, Captain?" Spock said, cautious. Kirk smiled benignly.

"If the chancellor was murdered the culprit must be caught, and punished." He nodded soberly. "I trust, in my absence, you have offered the planet side authorities your full cooperation."

Spock stared at him for a moment. "Is there some reason I should not, sir?"

If Kirk had to guess, he'd say his first officer was caught off balance.

"Of course not, Mr. Spock, I'm surprised at you."

"Your condition-"

"My condition is of no concern," Kirk replied firmly.

"Captain-" Bones sputtered. Spock touched his arm to still him, and Kirk got a sudden sick lurch of suspicion.

"The Capellan authorities reviewed the sensor logs for the chancellors quarters. The images were wiped, but a technician managed to pull out the signatures of two distinct life signs. Capellan."

"And?" Kirk prompted with his usual brisk impatience.

Spock stared at him for a moment. Then he turned his head with surreal deliberation to look at the readings on the monitor over Kirk's bed.

"Your readings, sir, are most unusual for a human," Spock said quietly, with the sober, predatory air Kirk recognized from one or two chess endgames. Kirk opened his mouth...and Spock lifted a hand, adjusted the console above Kirk's head. Kirk went utterly still as he watched the readings shift with the adjustment, evening out to green right across the board with a simple, understated obviousness even he could see.

"However, for a Capellan, they are quite normal," Spock finished softly.

Kirk felt the color drain out of his face.

"That's quite a coincidence, Mr. Spock," he said in a flat voice. Spock and McCoy shared a glance.

"It's more that a coincidence, Captain, and I think you know that." Spock looked up again. "Doctor?"

McCoy made an abrupt, explosive sound and lost his temper. "Dammit, Spock, you haven't proven anything!" Bones shouted.

"Yet," Spock corrected, and internally, Kirk couldn't help but smile. “If you would share with the Captain the results of the chemical analysis of the compound you isolated in his bloodstream-”

"I'll have no part in this," Bones insisted, jabbing a finger in Spock's direction. "If you honestly think Jim Kirk could be capable of-"

"I am quite aware," Spock said with deadly seriousness, "of what James T. Kirk is capable of."

Ouch.

James T. Kirk took a moment to swallow that, then leaned back and fired off.

"You're right, Mr. Spock. Of anyone in the universe, you would know what I'm capable of." He leaned forward, swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Tell me," he said casually, "hypothetically speaking, of course-" he caught the intent nod of Spock's head, "- what, in your opinion, could be an acceptable motive for such a heinous act?"

Spock looked at him for a moment. Then down at his hands.

"This room," he said calmly,"Is currently secure. So any comment I might make would be confidential to the people present."

"Mr. Spock, I expected nothing less of you," Kirk replied, and Spock accepted the complement with a graceful incline of his head.

"I...would have to say..." Spock paused, obviously uncomfortable. He glanced up. "If the obvious motive of self-preservation were discarded..."

Kirk nodded encouragingly.

"If there was a...danger to the ship, or her crew..."

"It would be unlikely, though, given the apparent element of careful planning involved," Kirk said, as though having a pleasant conversation. Spock fell silent and Bones flinched.

"Jim," the doctor said, appalled, "you can't mean..."

"This is a hypothetical exercise, Doctor," Kirk began lightly, then continued with sharp eyes. "I haven't said anything."

"Orders," Spock said softly. They both looked at him.

"You were under orders," his first officer repeated, slightly louder. Kirk stared at him steadily as Bones shot him a surprised look. He said nothing, just sat and quietly stared at Spock. Spock reached up and tapped the console, and it went back to reading for human normal, Kirk's readings sliding all over the scale.

Spock glanced down at him significantly.

"I appreciate that," Kirk said, voice soft.

"You realize," Spock said hesitantly, "I can not-"

"Spock-" a ghost of a smile flickered on Kirk's face, "You have had standing permission to enter my quarters for some time now."

Spock met his eye and said,
"I have," in such a way it was impossible to tell if it was a question or not. Another meaning, unintended, abruptly branched off from Kirk's own words and stood there like an offering. Kirk didn't flinch.

"You have," he confirmed, ignoring the doctor's rising eyebrows. "And," he continued, breaking the mood, "if you were to look at some of the sealed files on my computer in those quarters," another bare smile, "you might learn a few things entirely by accident."

Spock narrowed his eyes. "Encrypted files, sir?"

Kirk said something, far too quietly for McCoy to hear it. Spock's eyes widened and he murmured a name. It might have been Keebler...or something similar. Spock straightened, nodded, and went out. Bones made a huffy sound.

"Why you're welcome, Mr. Spock," he said to the closing door, then cocked an eyebrow at Kirk. Kirk saw Spock hesitate in the hall before the doors shut on him, and smiled. He watched the Doctor pull up a chair with a sigh.

"Dammed if I know how one man can get himself into so much trouble," Bones muttered, pinning him to the bed with a glare. Kirk managed a laugh.

"I suppose I owe you an apology," He said, and glanced at the door. Several apologies.
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