Using the ozh'esta to lure Jim out

Old and married

"Scotty, what did you promise them?" McCoy asked, as he and the well aged Scottsman were in the corner of the house.

"That I would help them," Scotty said. McCoy stared at the man, exasperated.

"Scotty, we are retired," McCoy said. "and we made a promise not to let Jim stand on the bridge of another Enterprise," his eyes winced at the memory of Jim, through hologram, looking around the Enterprise B bridge appearing sad. Sadder than he had ever seen him. McCoy had gone without them as Jim had fallen sick. Spock stayed behind to take care of him. He remembered Captain John Harriman's sacrifice to save his ship. A noble one. "And then spiral down a lane of depression."

"I know but. . ." Scotty looked over toward the retired admiral who was speaking with the little children with Mr Spock. His eyes grazed over toward the doctor. "they really need your help."

"How are we goin' to help them when we don not have a ship to take them to Betazed or Vulcan to deal with what emotional trauma they suffered?" McCoy asked. "these children have been pressed to be emotionless and ashamed of themselves, yanked from their families, lost their family, and if we do this. . ." he looked over from the corner of the doorway toward the children asking about Earth. He turned toward Scotty. "they may lose their parental figures."

"Aye," Scotty said, solemnly nodding. "but we can try. They will nae lose their parental figures."

"One of us is goin' to get killed," McCoy said,

"Lenny," Scotty said. "it is 2305. We are nae goin' tae get killed." McCoy sighed.

"All right, buttercup," McCoy said. "what do you have in mind?"

"We sneak them out in the market," Scotty said. "My pal and I will clean the place up so they will nae suspect the children are here."

"Tell me they did not hire a bounty hunter," McCoy said, as his face grew long.

"We have tae be prepared," Scotty said.

". . . . Scotty," McCoy said.

"Nae sure," Scotty said. "we have tae be prepared for it."

"All right," McCoy said. "this is supposed to be our retirement and we still end up runnin' off Jim's insane luck to live."

"It is nae luck, Lenny," Scotty said. "ye a miracle worker."

McCoy came over to Spock who held his free hand out for the doctor. McCoy's palm met the Vulcan's hand and their fingers touched completing the el'ru'esta. The hand embrace between family and loved ones. McCoy sent his personal concern of this situation to the Vulcan. Spock lowered his hand. It had been forty years since they first bonded and Spock did not look a day older than what he looked like in 2285. It was almost as though age had become frozen when it did not for Jim. Jim had a rounded figure, grayed hair, and he still looked fifty. Not bad for a man his age. McCoy's hair had turned grayed but it wasn't a mess of wrinkles. He didn't look a day over the age he was in 2285. Scotty's andorian friend, Jake Mallard, was securing them the vehicle to get away.

"I passed Mr Spock's test and we still did not meet then," Jim said.

"OOooh," The children gasped.

"Only part of a decade later," McCoy said. "good thin' you didn't meet or Spock and Jim would have been married from the first moment I stepped off that transported," Spock and Jim shared a glance together. "Admit it!" He gestured toward the men. "you would have gotten together sooner if Spock was not on a away mission with Captain Pike."

"Plausibly," Spock said. "we were different people back then."

"Heck," Jim said. "I am not the same man who entered the academy. A bunch of legs and a bookworm."

"Jim, you are not different," McCoy said. "you are still a bookworm."

"He is not all legs," Spock said, as the children were laughing. Scotty leaned against the wall watching the three older men reflecting on old times. "mostly . . ." Spock held his hands up with his finger bend inwards toward the palm of his hand. "squishy, soft, and muscular body."

Jim's cheeks were a shade of pink as he looked over toward McCoy.

"Are you any different, Bones?" Jim asked.

"Not at all," McCoy said.

"Is the kobyashi maru still there?" one of the children asked.

"The kobyashi maru," Spock said. "I doubt it is still in practice."

"It was a good one," Jim said.

"Until you bypassed it to talk the Klingons down into a cease fire and being extremely friendly with them," Spock said. "you changed the Kobyashi Maru."

"It was the logical thing to do," Jim said.

"That it is," McCoy said, sarcastically. "I failed it. Just like every ordinary cadet."

"Bones, you, in the command chair?" Jim asked. ". . . No wonder you refused to take command of any ship."

"But you said you were in the navigational seat," Spock said.

"I didn't like it but I had to do it," McCoy said, with a shrug. "and that was a lie."