Chapter Text
Subtle Wounds
Leonard let out an exhaustive sign as he dumped his scrubs into the bin and stepped into the shower stall. His shift at Starfleet medical had been a grueling one, with severe knifing accident from hand-to-hand combat class.
Idiots.
Under the influence of spontaneity two of the first-year cadets had decided to spar with no safety gear on. Managed to land themselves with severe life-threatening wounds. They were lucky they arrived at the medical center in time. He was grateful the injured were two faceless students and not his best friend Jim kirk who had the proclivity for injuries. He shook the thought away as he slipped out of the shower and began drying off. He purely wanted to decompress and not think further. He was ready for a long-restful - night-and a glass of amber liquid to numb him from the intensity of the day.
He slung his bag over his shoulder as he made his way out of the hospital. He sighed in relief, allowing his shoulders to drop for the first time in the past 10 hours. The cool night breeze felt good on his face. He took in the quiet of the night, enjoying the solitude away from the busyness of the hospital.
He enjoyed working in the Starfleet Medical, despite taking classes on top of ten-hour shifts. He enjoyed helping patients on their healing journeys and occasionally- if not always- knocking sense into the numbskull minds of the young cadets. But after a difficult day of being keyed on to the nines, he wanted nothing but to sleep and his mind to rest from the constant assessing and processing treatments.
He suddenly felt vibrations of his comm going off in his pocket. He grimaced, hoping this was not a comm to step back into the hospital.
McCoy, Kirk is completely smashed at one of the dive bars close to the marina. I thought you might want to know.
Leonard scowled at the message from Mitchell. Gary Mitchell was two years younger than Kirk and a bit of a rival. They bantered back and forth with one another and were buddies but not as close as Mitchell seemed to think. Jim surpassed him in all physical and mental aptitudes, but enjoyed the rivalry that Mitchell brought to the table.
He sent him a quick response back before plugging in the coordinates to the bar.
Leonard raced in the direction of the bar off campus. His mind raced through the possible events that would have triggered a drinking binge for Jim. He was acing his classes and managing well despite the crushing school load he was carrying. Most of his classes of the day were nothing but a breeze. He recalled Jim mentioning having a seminar on genocides for his diplomacy class. Something Leonard vaguely recalled picking up a bit of anxiety from him but nothing more alarming than usual.
The 25th remembrance had passed merely 4 months ago. Although that was a shit show galore, Jim had managed (with a little help from Leonard) to overcome the day with minor scathing. There were no messages from his mother since the day on the farm. That he knew of, his heart beat an extra beat at the mere thought of the shit storm Winona Kirk could release at the drop of a dime on Jim.
Jim and Winona’s relationship was at best cordial post their farmhouse meet up. Leonard frowned at the condition Jim was left in after that encounter. Emotionally depleted and a heightened sense of vulnerability that he did not expect. He was grateful he was there to support the kid but hoped they could avoid another encounter like that for at least awhile.
Leonard set the thoughts aside as he arrived at the dive bar at the marina. It was squished between two restaurant fronts that served late night, infamous San Francisco clam chowder and a classic Mexican burritos joint.
Leonard pushed the iron clad door open and entered the dimly lit bar. His nose instantly perturbed by the heavy scent of alcohol and cigarette smoke. His eyes scanned around to the various civilians, mostly young university students from the local state schools within the Starfleet area, enjoying drinks while carrying obnoxiously loud conversations. His eyes landed on a slumped blond haired young man tucked away at the darkest corner of the bar, away from the vociferous groups.
Leonard frowned as he made his way over, pausing to assess the situation at hand. Jim sat, slumped against the bar, a nearly empty mug that glowed blue in one hand. Jim’s head lolled to the side without a care, eyes glossed over and focused on the colorful display of beverage bottles on the shelf. He was dressed in his civilian clothes, a leather jacket that was tathered with age and worn-out jeans.
Leonard pursed his lip on this, wondering what damage he had done to himself now. Leonard watched closely as Jim clumsily lifted his mug ,tapping it on the bar. His frown grew deeper as he began assessing the alcohol damage Jim had inflicted on himself. Leonard stepped forward watching closely as the bartender poured a distinct purple liquid in the glass and turned around. Without a second thought Leonard snaked his hand in and gently pulled the mug out of Jim’s hand setting it aside.
“waaaat…?” Jim slurred with annoyance tilting to the side sluggishly.
“You’ve had enough Jim” Leonard responded gently, scanning Jim, and taking note of the cut on his lip that held dried blood followed by the faint signs of bruises on his cheek.
Was this from an inopportune bar fight? He wondered, his stomach tightening with concern over the hidden damages.
“Leave m’e alone” Jim muttered with annoyance reaching for the glass mug, almost falling off the chair from miscalculating his reach.
‘Pretty sloshed.’ Leonard thought as he quickly grabbed a hold of Jim, catching him before he fell face first to the floor.
“Were leaving Jim” he said with a tone of finality as he pulled his arm around his shoulder and lifted him up.
“N’oo” Jim muttered turning and looking at him with pure drunken venom.
“Fuck you ‘ones” he responded attempting to push his arm off him, but failing miserably at the death grip Leonard had on him.
“Come on, kid,” Leonard said as he pulled his arm tighter around Jim’s waist and guided him away from the bar. He didn’t need a medical license to know Jim had reached his alcohol limit. He merely hoped it wasn’t close to alcohol poisoning like the last time. He led Jim through the bar past the group of obnoxiously loud Andorians. His eye caught sight of Gary Mitchell in the far corner. He nodded his head at him as he smirked like a damn asshole back.
‘At least he has enough sense not to taunt Jim this time’ he thought as he shifted his focus on pushing the clad iron door open and hauling Jim outside into the cool night of San Francisco.
“’Ones stttop, lett me go” Jim slurred at him as he attempted to ground his heels.
“Not a chance in hell kid” Leonard responded annoyingly back as he tightened his hold on him and led him through the streets. All he wanted for the night was some smooth bourbon and sleep instead what he got was chaperoning the kid through another drunken stupor. He’d be damned if he didn’t do this job right as a physician, but more importantly as a best friend to the kid.
“’et me go” Jim yelled buckling at Leonard and managing to get loose before falling to his knees on the ground from the lack of balance.
Jim stifled a groan from the ground.
“God dammit Jim!” Leonard cursed as he rubbed his side before, he kneeled in front of Jim. Between the swaying and the smell of alcohol he was doused in, Leonard could tell Jim was going through a very emotional up well. His physical reserves were close to depletion judging by the scrapes on his knuckles and lip, and he was hitting an exhausted state. For any regular person this would make them easy to be shepherded around but not for Jim. Leonard knew that Jim would fight tooth and nail to get his way. Leonard also knew he needed to change his strategy. Reasoning with a drunk person was one thing, reasoning with a drunk Kirk was a whole other level.
“Jim, come on” he said gently as he took a hold of his wrist and measured his vitals.
‘high heart beat but not dangerous yet’ he noted.
“We gotta get you home” he spoke softly as he placed his arm around his waist one more time. Surprised that this time Jim allowed him to. ‘Not a good sign’ Leonard thought as he helped pull him on his feet allowing him to lean heavily on him as he wrapped his arm around his waist and began the truck back to Starfleet campus.
They made their way through the darkness of the city, towards the medical dormitory stopping once for Jim to vomit most of his alcohol and food intake from the day while Leonard held on to him and rubbed his back soothingly.
Leonard helped carefully place Jim on the old fluffy blue couch. He grabbed a glass of water followed by the medical kit he had specifically packed for occasions such as this. He had learned his lesson from his Georgia visit and had diligently packed a Kirk medical kit that he made sure to keep on hand at his dormitory. He got out his tricorder and began scanning Jim who lay slumped on his side on the couch, eyes open at half mast and dark and moody.
The tricorder beeped, Leonard glaring at the read out. He was grateful that the physical damage was at a minimum, but he dared not discard something as simple as a high blood alcohol. He had seen too many patients in his career that died by something as simple as pneumonia.
‘dammit Jim’ he thought as he put the tricorder aside. He needed to get some water in the kid soon. he helped the kid sit up, the movement enlisted a low groan.
“Come on kid, you need to drink some electrolyte light water” Leonard said as he pressed the cup close to Jim’s lip. Jim took a small sip of the water before pushing the glass away.
“Leave me alone Bones’” he muttered, his words slightly less slurred than earlier.
“No,” Leonard responded “your blood alcohol level is high, not to mention your electrolytes are off balance” he said with a glare “we need to get some water in you, come on” he said pushing the cup close to his lips again this time Jim accepted it. Leonard waited patiently until Jim drank a good amount before setting it back down on the table.
What the hell had happened to cause this strong of a reaction. What was he dealing with?
“Jim, what happened?” he asked softly, mentally preparing himself for the worst. Jim looked at him darkly.
“The unexpected Kirk luck” he muttered angrily.
Leonard looked at him clinically. He knew enough of Jim’s family history to know the abuse he suffered from his stepfather’s hand. The deep rooted abandonment he felt from his mother, and brother and unprocessed trauma he carried with him. However, a lot of Jims past was a mystery to Leonard. A plethora of painful experiences that Jim had yet to share with him but merely hinted. He did not push to learn such things. He recognized there were dark blanks that had not unraveled fully for him.
“I am here if you want to talk, kid” he offered gently, the only thing he could do without pushing Jim into a corner but also offering him support.
Jim laughed bitterly “You don’t want to know Bones” he responded with a bitter iciness in his voice, as he shut down and closed Leonard out both mentally and physically, as he turned facing into the couch away from Leonard.
Leonard frowned sadly. The conversation would have to wait for the next day. Without a second thought he set himself to work grabbing a small regenerator from his kit and starting to set it up for Jim’s knuckles. He expected push back but was surprised when Jim did not even react to his gentle touching of his hand. Leonard set to work on his lip next. He tipped Jim’s chin to the side as he gently dabbed at the dried blood on his lip. This triggered a small hiss from Jim as he was pulled out of his reverie and out of Leonard’s hold with a glare.
“I am almost done,” Leonard said softly, before getting a disgruntled nod of approval to continue. Leonard finished cleaning and patching up his lip. Before long he took off his gloves and threw them in the bin he strategically placed by the couch. Set his med kit to the side not before taking a quick tricorder reading.
He frowned, making a mental note to have hourly checks on Jim for the remainder of the night based on the readings. He took a small glance at him, noting the half-closed eyes due to his drunken slumber and slumped position on his side on the couch before getting up and making his way to the kitchen. He filled another glass of water with electrolyte powder to enhance it. He hoped another glass( before officially settling into sleep) would help bring his blood alcohol level to a decent level and ward off some of the uncomfortable parts of hungover.
He gently shook Jims’s shoulder, receiving another disgruntled sleepy groan.
“Jim, you need to drink one more of these before you settle back to sleep, come on” he shook again, receiving a venomous glare from his sparkling baby blues. Leonard braced himself for a showdown but was surprised to see Jim reach out his hand and avert his eyes from his gaze. Leonard looked at him critically for a moment but pushed the glass to his hand and waited patiently as he drank half of the glass, before taking it from his shaky hand and setting it back on the coffee table.
Leonard watched him sharply as Jim turned his back to him on his side facing into the couch as if shutting himself against the world. Leonard sighed inwardly before grabbing a blanket from the armchair adjacent to the couch and laying it softly on Jim. He took a seat in the armchair preparing himself for another night vigil of many to come he imagined.