Chapter Text
Leonard couldn’t find Jim anywhere. This in itself was nothing unusual. Jim had a tendency to disappear for hours on the ship, distracted by something he found intriguing. He also had a tendency to arrive late for nearly everything. But Jim was nearly an hour late now, and Leonard hadn’t heard anything from him, nor had Spock or Scotty seen him. It was unlike Jim to be so tardy when it came to something as important as a scheduled rendezvous to beam aboard the Enterprise while on shore-leave. Leonard and Jim were supposed to meet and beam back together to work the second shift as part of the skeleton crew and relieve some of the other crewmen to enjoy their leave. At first, Leonard assumed that Jim had beamed up ahead of him, as he was impatient to work on something in engineering before they left. However, when Leonard didn’t find Jim aboard the ship, he began to worry. Jim wasn’t answering his comm, and he hadn’t been seen by any member of the crew sense the previous night when he disappeared from a local bar, possibly with a stranger, though no one could confirm this detail for certain because it had been so crowded, and none of them were anywhere near sober by that point in the night.
Leonard was just about to return to the planet and hunt Jim down himself when his comm suddenly came back online. Instead of requesting a beam-up from the Enterprise, Jim commed Leonard directly and asked to be beamed directly to medical. He sounded okay, but the request was an obvious sign that Jim was anything but. Moments later, Jim was beamed into the medbay, manned only by Dr. McCoy and Nurse Chapel. It was apparent that something was wrong the moment Jim appeared. He was bruised and had a few cuts, which was nothing unusual for Jim. But most worrisome was the white substance staining his clothes and in his hair and his limp when he walked.
Jim still hadn’t spoken since he was beamed up. Leonard had carried out his duties perfunctorily, asking Jim to strip and collecting his clothing in an evidence bag, examining the worst of his obvious injuries, and noting the prevalence of the white substance (Leonard continued to refer to it as such, though he was fairly certain that he knew what it was). Jim was still and silent and entirely unlike himself.
“Jim,” Leonard said, breaking the silence, “I need to examine you for tearing or other injuries, and I need to collect evidence in case you decide to press charges. It may feel uncomfortable, but I will do everything I can to make it as easy and quick as possible. If anything is painful, tell me so I can take care of it.”
Jim just nodded in response. Leonard was worried about his friend, but he knew the best thing he could do right now was continue to do his job. Jim was tense, so Leonard placed one hand gently on his stomach and rubbed slow circles, saying “relax, darling.’ I promise it’s almost over.”
Jim tensed a little at the initial touch, but he didn’t flinch. And slowly he did actually relax. “I’m gonna examine you now, Jim, just keep relaxin’ for me and it’ll be over before you know it.” Leonard carefully slid a swab into Jim’s rectum to collect evidence, then he checked for any internal injuries, which fortunately were minimal. All the while, his other hand continued to rub circles on Jim’s stomach. Jim flinched a little and hissed when Leonard touched the tear, but Leonard soothed him again. “Alright,” he said when the exam was complete, “let’s get the dermal regenerator going. I’m gonna start down here. It’ll be uncomfortable, but I promise it will be over soon. And once you’re patched up, I’ll release you to your quarters.”
Jim’s discomfort was clear to Leonard, though he doubted anyone else would have seen it. No one knew Jim as well as Leonard did. Leonard resumed his earlier motion of rubbing Jim’s stomach because there was little he could do to ease the discomfort and that was one region of Jim’s body on which he didn’t need to use the dermal regenerator. It seemed to relax Jim a bit, and he spoke for the first time since he had been transported onto the Enterprise. “Feels nice, Bones.” He still looked uncomfortable, but Leonard could sense Jim’s comfort returning. And soon, the regenerator had done its work, and Jim looked pretty much as good as new. There were still a few pink lines and not-quite-faded bruises, but Jim looked much more himself.
Leonard replicated a new uniform for Jim and let him get dressed again. When Jim was dressed, Leonard released him from medical and made sure that Christine was on duty. Then he escorted his friend to his quarters. Jim looked tired, but he was no longer limping, and he seemed much more relaxed than he had initially been.
Jim had insisted that he walk to his quarters under his own steam and refused a wheelchair, not wishing to look weak. Leonard gave in because Jim had not been so severely injured as to be unable to walk to his quarters without risking further injury and his pride was important, but Jim was certainly exhausted which was why Leonard had suggested the chair in the first place. It wasn’t like there was anyone around to see Jim, or anyone would think any less of him for it, but Jim could be stubborn bastard, and Leonard knew it was better to just let him have his way. He gave in and allowed Jim his freedom, but he was prepared to offer assistance should Jim need it or catch him if he fell.
Jim made it back to his quarters, tired but still on his own two feet. He went straight to the shower, a real water one, and Leonard set out some clean boxers and pajamas for Jim and waited. And waited. Jim had been in the shower a little too long, so Leonard entered the bathroom and called his name softly.
Jim was sitting in the floor of the shower. He appeared to have finally broken down, and he let out a sob when he saw Leonard.