#springhassprungchallenge

Leonard is kneeling in the grass nearby, cursing his lack of medkit because he, too, assumed the mission would go off quickly and without a hitch.  You’re not too worried, though - you’re sure he’s just worrying in excess, he always does.  You’re fine aside from a few scrapes, but you know that Leonard won’t be convinced until he’s been over you with a tricorder a half dozen times.

“God, I’m so sorry,” you blurt suddenly.

“It’s not your fault,” Leonard replies, and you’re so distracted you miss the strain in his voice.

“I should have just gone and changed, I had no excuse,” you babble, more to yourself than to him.  “I was lazy and stupid, stupid, stupid.”

You can hear his voice in the background, but you’re so stuck in your own head that you can’t discern his words.  All you can think about is how you almost got your boss - not to mention the man who stole your heart on your first day aboard the Enterprise - killed.  He could have died.  You could have, too, you suppose, but that’s irrelevant.  If he’d died and you’d lived, you never would have had a chance to act on your feelings.  You’ve been doing your best to bide your time, test the waters, see whether he feels similarly, and you were very nearly denied the chance to ever find out.

“We almost died,” you cry; exasperated, scared, on a roll and unable to stop yourself.  “I almost got us killed.  If you had died and I’d never told you I think I’m in love with you, I don’t know what I would have done!”

You fall silent in the wake of your admission, anxiety already eating at you as you realize what you’ve said.  You pray that he hasn’t heard you but his sudden lack of shuffling around tells you that he has, and that he’s shocked at best.  Disgusted at worst.  You’re trembling as you slowly turn on your heel where you’ve stopped your pacing, anticipating the worst when your gaze finds Leonard.

“I appreciate the sentiment, Y/N, I really do, and I return it, but…”  Leonard trails off slowly, and for the first time you notice he’s got one palm clasped around his other arm, below the elbow and over the fleshiest part of the muscle there.  “Stop talking about love for a minute and help me with this bullet wound.” You suck in a breath and your eyes widen as you realize what he’s just said.  Rushing forward, you drop to your knees at his side and hold out your hands, taking him in, looking for the injury.  In all the chaos, you hadn’t even realized that the locals had been firing at you with honest-to-goodness guns.  You’d just assumed the things shooting by you and Leonard had been phaser bolts. “I’ve never treated a bullet wound before,” you say dumbly. Leonard’s expression is simultaneously sympathetic and somewhat exasperated. “I need you to stop the bleeding,” he instructs you.  “The rest will have to wait until we’re back on the Enterprise.  Just tear a strip of fabric off of one of our tunics and wrap it around my thigh.” “Right,” you say with a nod.  “Okay.” You work quickly now that you’ve had a bit of coaching and you reach for the hem of your tunic, pulling at the seam in an attempt to get a tear going.  It takes you a few moments but eventually a couple of stitches pop and the hemline starts to unravel.  Yanking harder, you manage to tear the entire folded hem off of your top – a strip about an inch and a half wide.  It’s not much, but it’ll be enough to cover a bullet hole with a bit of extra padding. Leonard’s already got you beat to it – he’s taken off is glove and folded it over on itself to create a thicker pad to press to the wound.  He’s holding it in place as you work to slip the strip of fabric around his leg before finally tying it tightly and securely into place over the wound.  His wince and grimace aren’t lost on you and you look up at him apologetically as you finish up. “Sorry,” you murmur.  “I wish I had something to give you for the pain.” Leonard chuckles – it’s strained and a little bit forced, but the amusement in his eyes is genuine when you meet his gaze. “Don’t be sorry, you did great,” he assures you.  “I’ll be fine, sugar.” Now that the second of your adrenaline rushes of the day is fading, you can feel blood filling your cheeks again and you chew on your lip as you consider what you’d let slip a short while ago. You also busy yourself berating yourself for not being at the top of your nursing game. “About what I said…” you begin, but he cuts you off, holding a hand up to stop you. “I meant what I said before about returning your sentiments,” he says gently.  “But this isn’t how I want us to talk about, well, us.  This is a conversation I think we’d better save for when we’re not under threat of death.” You nod, your voice and words failing you as you take a slow, deep breath.  You’re reassured that he does have some measure of feelings for you, too, when his tone changes as his comm buzzes a moment later and the captain informs him that they’ve pinned down your signals and will be beaming you up shortly. “Took you long enough,” he growls into the unit, stashing it back in his pocket and returning his attention to you. Just as the golden light of the transporter begins to engulf the two of you, tendrils of it wrapping around your bodies to whisk you away, you hear shouting in the distance and feel something – a bullet, you realize belatedly – whip by your head.  You yelp, throwing your arms around Leonard and shutting your eyes tightly as you’re spirited away back to the safety of the Enterprise. When the two of you rematerialize on the transporter pad, Leonard’s arms are around you, holding you tightly to his chest. For a moment, you allow yourself to feel safe, to put the firefight out of your head, but you’re brought back to reality with a startling clarity as you feel something warm and wet against your thigh. “We need to get you to med bay,” you say quickly, disentangling yourself from his embrace and glancing down at his bullet wound, which has begun to bleed through your makeshift dressing.  “Dr. M’Benga needs to take a look at this.” Leonard smiles as a transport team descends on the two of you, helping you move him onto a stretcher to take the pressure off of his injured leg. “I think you can handle it just fine on your own,” Leonard says warmly as you walk swiftly at his side. His tone is mingled flirtatious and encouraging, and you’re thrown.  He must sense as much by the look on your face because he starts to laugh as you board the turbo lift.  As you exit it once more on the right floor, your heart flutters wildly in your chest at the prospect of the conversation the two of you are undoubtedly going to have once you’re pieced him back together, and you wonder, not for the first time, whether he was just waiting for the right moment to admit his own feelings, too. For better or worse, the bullet wound had been the catalyst to a deeper relationship between the two of you and you file it away in your mind as a blessing in one hell of a disguise.

@imamotherfuckingstar-lord @feelmyroarrrr @starshiphufflebadger @musingsongbird @gerardnot-gerald @ababyinatrenchcoat @the-alpha-otter @alluramc @medicatemedrmccoy @arrowsshootyouforwards @wonders-of-the-enterprise @star-trekkin-across-theuniverse @answer-the-sirens @devanshade @dolamrothianlady @startrekimagines @theonlyparadox @mccoymostly @goodnightwife @thevalesofanduin @distinguishedqueenofbooks @elsa-lost-in-translation

“Alright that’s it hand over the bottle” she sighed, trying to grab it out of jIm’s hands. “What , no go away Y/n I am in pain” Jim whined clutching the bottle to his chest.

“Oh please, you say that every time the ship makes a slight bump. Hand it over now” she argued.

“Noooooo” Jim groaned getting up and stumbling back as the short engineer charged at him.  

And so the chaos began. It was quite amusing really, watching the confident and headstrong captain being chased after by the grumpy tiny engineer.

Very Tom and Jerry- esque (Terran reference)

Scotty laughed, tears welling up as he watched his second in command pick up a wrench , Jim running under the pipes.

“James Tiberius Kirk, come back here right now!!!” she huffed, weaving through the winding pipes.

“You will never find me” He roared back.

James believed he had won, Y/N would never find him because he was an expert at hiding. A master of stealth. A connoisseur of the con.

“Found ya!” She smirked in victory, a few pipes away. She ran towards him failing to listen to his warning.

Smacking face first into the ground.

The world turned dark and the last thing she heard before the world stopped was

“JIMMY KIRK IS VICTORIOUS YET AGAIN”

Spock couldn't think of one reason as to why he’d been called to Med Bay this late at night. The only one he could think of was that Jim might have hurt himself in his drunken state, but that was Doctor Mccoy’s job. He made steady pace, walking through the quiet corridors of the Enterprise.

Until he heard the crash. His ears perked up and his hand fell onto his phaser, quickening his pace. “Captain are you al…”

“Jesus Christ, y/n calm down!!!

Spock froze at the sight before him. His beloved captain on the floor, hugging a bottle of liquor to his chest and scrambling away from the door. Another crash.

“Alright, alright I’ll leave, Ya bampot (means idiot)” Scotty roared running out, ducking as yet another empty hypo flew at his head.

“Damn it Jim, where is Spock!!” Bones called from Medbay.

“What happened?” Spock as, eyes darting from Scotty and Jim.

“Y/n she..”

“The crazy lass”

“...Chased after me”

“Fell over a pipe!!”

“Hit her head.”

“Bloody insane!!”

Spock nodded and entered the Medbay, stopping at the threshold. “I shall send Dr Mccoy to your rooms. Wait till he treats you and then get some rest. You will need it for tomorrow” Spock ordered.

“Yeah but Spock you don’t get it she is…”

“I will see to the lieutenant” He replies and enters the Medbay.

Dr Mccoy stood in front of the cot.

“You done?” he asks grumpily to his frazzled patient.

“Yes. Now whatcha gonna do to me next” she hiccups. Bones rolled his eyes and turned towards Spock.

“Never thought I’d say this but glad to see ya Spock” Bones grumbled, slapping Spock’s shoulder. The Vulcan, still unsure looked at Doctor “What is it that you needed me to do?”

“I need to patch Jim and Scotty up so can you babysit…”

“I AM NOT A BABY”

“Look after Y/n for me? She’s on a lot of painkillers and is borderline insane. “ Bones sighed.

“I do not understand why you didn't call any of your nurses” Spock replied.

“Because they are all exhausted and need sleep, you, on the other hand I do not like. Look there’s a hypo on the table, just inject her with it and she will fall to sleep.” Bones grunted, patting Spock on his shoulder again and walked away.

Spock stared at the engineer, playing with the hem of her dress. He agreed that she looked slightly...unhinged. She stared at him with big brown eyes.

“How you doin!?!” she smirked wiggling her eyebrows, bursting into a fit of giggles.

“I do not understand why my well being is amusing to you” he replied.

“Cause it’s from a Terran show, ya know FRIENDS. Chandler Bing, Joey, How you doin, Joey doesn't share food, he’s so pretty I could cry...:”

“I do not know the source of these references. Is this some Terran form of entertainment?” he asked, searching the table for the hypo.

“Are you gonna shoot me up and make me go to sleep?” she asked him, kicking her legs in the air.

“It is the Doctor’s orders.”

“Do you always do what you are told?”

“If it is a logical order.” He answered, walking up to her while inspecting the syringe.

“I swear if you weren’t so attractive, I’d have punched you in the face nine times by now.” she grumbled, sitting up straight.

“I do not believe one's physical appearance has any affect on you hurting them. You did after all punch Captain Kirk in the face and he is appealing to the eye”. Spock pointed out, gesturing to you to hand over your arm.

“Aw don’t see yourself short my little vulcan friend, you are extremely appealing to the eye too” she laughed, sticking her arm out.

“Well they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder” he whispers. Spock refused to acknowledge the closeness between him and the engineer. Her hair, falling on his shoulder, him between her legs.

The logical thing to do would have been to back away, inject the serum and walk out. But he stayed. Her fingers trailed over his chest.

“Hey Spock?”

“Yes, Y/n”

“Lift your hand up for me would ya”

Though a bizarre request, Spock did as he was told. She pressed her fingers to his.

Electricity sparked, causing the two of them to jerk back.

“Oops” she giggled, covering her mouth.

“Did I hurt you?’ he asked her in concern.

“Nope’ she replied popping the ‘p’.

“Was that supposed to happen?” she asked softly.

“If the two participants desire the action” he nodded, green blush filling his cheeks.

“Aww so you do like me !” she giggled yet again, lying down on the cot.

“ I believe so” he mumbles, the green in his cheeks darkening as he stood beside her.

“Just so ya know, it’s not because of the drugs that that happpened okayyy?” she slurred, making herself comfortable on the bed.

“I understand” he replied.

She yawned, curling up with her legs to her chest. He turned around to leave, placing the hypo on the table.

“Nighty night Spockyy” she whispered.

Waiting for Captain Kirk to get to the transporter, you chatted to your superior and friend, Scotty. He reminded you to check in when you landed and to keep an eye on Jim for him. You both had a good chuckle at that, knowing that sometimes Jim was prone to wander off. You were still giggling when he came into the room, followed closely by Dr. McCoy who, by the sound of it, was giving him a hard time about something.

“Jim, you can’t just walk off a concussion, it’s serious.”

“I know Bones, I know. Don’t worry about it. It’s just a hypothetical situation. Relax.”

“Hypothetical my ass. “ the doctor replied stepping to the side, “Still don’t understand why you’re even going.”

“Cause I am the Captain, and the team needs me. Hey Dust.” Jim acknowledged you, as he walked away to talk to Scotty.

“Dust” had been Jim’s name for you since he met you in your first astronomy class at the academy. “Dust” is short for “Stardust”. He insisted that since everyone is made of stardust and he met you when you were both studying stars, it was only a fitting name for you. You tried to act like you didn’t like it, but it warmed your heart a little every time he called you that.

“His ego is so visible I can almost watch it grow.” Dr. McCoy grumbled, now standing near you.

You laughed in true then; you couldn’t deny that. The doctor looked at you then, as if he hadn’t realized who it was that he was standing by.

“Don’t laugh too hard Y/N. I’m gonna get you into medical when you get back. You’re about a year overdue for just about everything.”

“You gotta catch me first Doc.” you sassed as you walked onto the transport pad.

“Ya know, you could use my name,” he sighed.

“At least I don’t call you ‘Bones’,” you smiled at him as you turned to face the room, ready to beam down. Jim cackled as your bodies began to transport.

You were so excited for the mission; beaming to the surface of an icy planet, not knowing what you’d find. Your first steps left footprints in the surrounding snow, they were the only marks you could see. A smile lit your face as the science officers started running scans of the area. You could hear trepidation in their voices, but you weren’t worried or afraid. Cautious, as you were expected to be, but not afraid. 

Perhaps you should have been.

While the planet was uninhabited by any humanoid life forms, there were apparently several, very large, very aggressive life forms calling it home. Life forms that, when threatened by a Starfleet scouting party, like to swipe at said scouting party with their sharp claws and clubbed tails. Since you all were only equipped with phasers, beaming back to the ship was the only option. The problem with that was that the call wasn’t put through fast enough. Kirk hadn’t even finished saying Scotty’s name when the claws came at his head again. He ducked as did most of the others, except the youngest science officer. You pushed him out of the way just in time while firing off a miraculous shot, hitting the creature right in its eye. The creature howled in pain and ran off with one last swipe of its massive tail.

“Good shot Y/N,” Kirk cheered as he rolled to his feet, a proud grin on his face. That grin slid away as soon as he saw you though.

Although you had hit the creature, it had scored an equally good hit on you; three deep gouges, right across your torso, shoulder to hip.

You vaguely registered Kirk calling Scotty again, frantically telling him to alert McCoy that you were injured. You weren’t sure when your back had hit the ground, but you thought you felt a warm touch to your cheek. Then it was all black.

...

The bright lights of medbay were burning through your closed eyelids, irritating your already pounding head. You knew you were in medical without even opening your eyes. The smell of antiseptic, the soft whir of the bio-beds and, the angry sounding southern drawl of the local CMO where all the clues you needed.

“No Jim, she isn’t awake. …  No, there hasn’t been a change since you checked 5 seconds ago. … Damn it man, I’m a doctor not a miracle worker; I can’t make her wake up.”

“Maybe you are a miracle worker Doc.” you replied, voice scratchy and rough from your unintended sleep, “You woke me up just fine.”

“I take it back, she says I may just be. She’s up. …  No Jim, you may not. I just said- and he’s already headed down here.” McCoy added, speaking to no one now that Jim had elected to come down to medical, regardless of the CMO’s protests. You chuckled lightly at his antics, pushing yourself into a sitting position, instantly regretting it when you felt your chest and abdomen protest. You groaned and Dr. McCoy turned to you, tricorder in hand and began scanning you.

“You’re gonna be sore for a few weeks Y/N. You took a hard shot to the chest and knocked your head. Had to regenerate quite a bit of tissue and you needed a transfusion. There’s a lot of deep tissue bruising still. You’re gonna need to take it easy.”

You winced. “This is your way of telling me I’m gonna stuck here for a while isn’t it?”

“‘Fraid so. Unless you can convince someone else to watch you in your quarters instead,” he responded, adjusting your IVs.

Your heart rate spiked. Up until that moment you hadn’t noticed the IVs in your arms. You knew that the shunts in your arms were not technically needles, but your irrational fear didn’t discriminate. That was the reason you avoided medbay and the Hypo-happy doctor who called it home. You had an intense needle phobia. And now, you couldn’t escape.

In your panic, you’d missed the Captain entering medical to a scene of confusion. McCoy trying to calm you while simultaneously barking at his nurses to get a sedative for you. Jim crossed the room, perched himself on the edge of your bed and took your face in his hands.

“Y/N,” he said in a calm but commanding voice, his “captain” voice, “you need to calm down, Dust.”

Your panicked brain heard him and your wide eyes met his.

“Listen to my breathing okay? Listen and try to match your breathing to mine.” He took exaggeratedly loud, even breaths for several minutes, long enough for you to calm down a little and explain the source of your panic.

“Well shit darlin’, I wish I’d known that earlier, but it’s not like there’s much I could have done about it.” You understood that a transfusion required needles. Intellectually, you knew there was nothing to fear, especially from Dr. McCoy, he’d never been anything but nice to you, even accommodating your dislike for medbay most of the time. But even though you knew all these things, your phobia would not be ignored. Your momentary calm had snapped, and you were hyperventilating again, Jim tried to calm you down, but it was like his voice was lost to you. Also lost to you was Nurse Chapel and her hidden hypo of sedative. She stuck you before you could notice her. Within moments, you had passed out, falling forward, slumping into Jim’s arms. He gently repositioned you, laying you back into bed, and then brushed the hair out of your face.

“How long do the IVs have to be in Bones?”

“Not much longer. If everything checks out, we can pull them later today. We’ll just have to make sure she’s getting enough liquids and be careful that she doesn’t become dehydrated. I told her she’d probably have to stay in here, but with that level of a reaction to needles, it may not be best for her,” Bones blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair, looking at you back.

“What needs to happen?” Bones’ eyes darted to Jim when he spoke, brow furrowing for a moment before his face relaxed and he smiled slightly. He was surprised that Jim was so involved, but when he saw his friend’s determined face, he understood.

...

When you woke next, you were no longer in medbay, but swaddled in blankets in a room that was not your own. Blinking a few times to clear your eyes, you began to push yourself up, only to be stopped by a hand on your shoulder.

“Whoa, Y/N, lay back down,” Jim’s concerned face floated into your view. You grew more confused.

“Where am I? Whose…” you trailed off as you remembered; the mission, getting struck, medbay, your panic. Your eyes flew to Jim’s sea blue ones, shame and discomfort building, you looked away and down.

“First of all,” Jim spoke soothingly and used his thumb and forefinger to lift your chin so he could see your face again, “there’s no reason for you to be embarrassed; we all have fears. So yours is inconvenient; they all are, really. We were just surprised. We don’t judge you for a fear you can’t control. Bones says he can find ways to work around it. Honestly, I think he’s just glad you weren’t avoiding him cause you didn’t like him, he has a fragile ego ya know.” You smiled a little at that, remembering McCoy’s comment about Jim’s ego.

“Second, to answer your question, you are in my room. Bones said you needed someone to watch you if you left medbay. I volunteered, so we are in my room,” Jim paused, he hadn’t even considered taking you to your own room, he’d just taken you straight to his. Now he was questioning his impulse, “would you rather be in yours? We can move if you want.” You blinked a few times and tilted your head causing Jim’s fingers to leave your chin, he rested them instead on your upturned cheek. He’d volunteered? Your brow furrowed again; Jim chuckled.

“You’re wondering why I volunteered aren’t you?”

“Yep. You have way more important shit to be doing than babysitting an invalid, Jim. You have a whole ship depending on you.”

“Are you not a part of the ship Y/N?”

“Well yeah but-”

“And you need help right?”

“I do not nee-”

“Yes, you do. So this could be considered an extension of my duties really, but it’s not.” Jim’s hand stayed on your cheek, but he brought himself more fully into your view, now sitting perched on the bed as opposed to on the ground leaning over you as he’d been before.

“If it’s not duty, then why are you doing this Jim?” you asked, eyes looking back and forth between his, confused, but still… why would he be here, touching you, let alone spending so much time with you if he didn’t feel… No, you decided, closing your eyes and trying to turn your face away, but Jim countered; moving his other hand up to cup your other cheek, effectively forcing you to look at him.

“Why? Because I care about you, Y/N. I’ve always cared about you, probably more than I should have. We’ve always been close I know, but when I saw you hurt… Stardust, you passed out and I tried to catch you when you fell, but I was too far away. My heart was racing when I ran to you, and it almost stopped when you wouldn’t wake up. I got to you and you wouldn’t respond. I was so scared. You lost so much blood, Dust,” Jim’s eyes closed and he pressed his forehead to yours. You reached up and held his wrists in your hands, trying to comfort him. You could only remember how you felt during the Khan incident, when Jim had climbed into the warp core housing to save the ship, and died in the process; you had been shattered. Looking at Jim, you knew he understood that feeling now. 

“I’m here. I’m here, and I’m okay. You got me back to the ship in time. McCoy fixed me up, and if I hadn’t seen the IVs, I would have been fine.” You moved your right hand from his wrist to his cheek, he nuzzled into your palm.

You both stayed like that for a moment before Jim moved. He removed his left hand to grasp your right, holding it to his cheek as he spoke.

“I’m here, helping you because I want to. I want to be with you as much as I can. I want to be there when you wake up, as you fall asleep, and every moment in between. I… I love you, Y/N. I love you so much.” His eyes were still closed, his head still leaning on yours. He looked so vulnerable, you weren’t used to this side of him.

You thought you had seen everything from him; funny, angry, melancholy, happy, studious (albeit rarely). But this? This was new. Love. You did love him, had for a while, but pushed it back through everything. He needed you as a friend. You’d been there through Nero, Kahn, and the death of Christopher Pike. Hell you’d been there when he had died. Most recently, you’d been there when he was doubting himself, and thinking of leaving the ship, during Krall’s terror. He’d never indicated his feelings, at least not that you’d noticed. But then again, he clearly didn’t know how you felt either.

“Ya know, life would be so much easier if we all just talked about our damn feelings,” you groused, startling Jim into lifting his head from yours, almost pulling away from your hand and looking straight at you. 

“I’ve loved you for a long time, you idiot.” You smiled at his relieved sigh. His whole body relaxed, his head dropping back down to meet yours, a small chuckle falling from his lips.

“Yeah, it would be easier. But I’m saying it now, and I’ll say it for as long as you’ll let me: I love you, Dust.” He began to lean forward a bit more, his eyes looking to your lips, you smiled as the hand you had on his cheek slid to the back of his neck and up into his hair. But before you felt the press of lips against yours, the door opened and a very loud, southern voice came from the doorway.

“How’s our patient doing to-- Damn it Jim! I told you to watch her, not hit on her!” Jim groaned, you laughed so hard your abdomen and chest burned.

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