Aviophobia (Leonard McCoy)

19. I've Been an Idiot

Kate was still aware of the person behind her, holding onto her and trying to comfort her, but all she could hear was Leonard's confession ringing in her head.  Leonard loved her, and now he had his arm trapped in a torpedo that was counting down to detonation.  She couldn't help but thinking that she was going to experience exactly what her mom had experienced all those years ago when she had to hear the man she loved die.  There was nothing her mom could have done about it then, just as there was nothing Kate could do about it now.

After confessing his feelings, Leonard seemed to puts his focus back into whether he was going to survive or not, and she couldn't blame him.  She heard him begin counting, "Ten, nine, eight," and her stomach felt like it dropped out of her body.  It was almost too late.

The tears continued to fall down her face as Sulu turned toward Jim and said, "Standing by to transport Doctor Marcus on your command, sir."  Kate didn't want Carol Marcus to die in this situation either, but she was too worried about Leonard right now to really be able to think about her.  Guilt washed over her for a brief moment as Sulu brought Carol Marcus to the front of her mind.

Carol Marcus was quickly overshadowed as Leonard's voice cut through again, still counting down, "Four, three," then Carol Marcus's voice cut in with a loud, "Shit!" before there was silence.

Silence was both comforting and unsettling.  Kate couldn't decide if the torpedo detonated and they lost communication or if Carol had been successful in deactivating the torpedo.  Kate could hear her own quick breaths as silence filled the bridge before Spock said calmly, "Deactivation successful, Captain."

Kate laughed with joy and covered her face with her hands as new tears began flowing down her face.  The relief she felt in this moment was nothing like she had ever felt before.  Leonard was alive.  She looked up and smiled brightly at Jim who smiled at her briefly before asking, "Doctor McCoy, are you alright?"

There was no response for a moment, and dread filled Kate's stomach again.  The device had deactivated, but it still seemed like something had happened.  Worry eating at her stomach, she cut in and asked, "Leonard?  Are you there?"

She sighed in relief as she heard his voice fill the bridge and say, "Yeah, we're good here.  And you guys are going to want to see this."

A confused look passed between everyone in the bridge before Jim asked, "What are you talking about?"

Leonard sounded like he couldn't believe what he was saying as he responded, "There's... there's a man in this torpedo."

Kate asked in shock, "What," as she stood up and remembered the person behind her for the first time.  She turned around and saw Nyota was the one that had been by her side that whole time.

She hugged Nyota tightly as Carol's voice said, "We're loading the torpedo back on the shuttle now.  We will be back to the Enterprise in a few minutes."

Kate pulled away from Nyota with a smile on both their faces.  Nyota took her hand as Kate turned so she could see Jim again.  Jim nodded at Carol's words and said, "We'll be ready for you.  Seems like Harrison's been keeping more secrets than we realized."

Kate's stomach fluttered as she heard Leonard say, "Kate, can you meet us in shuttle bay to help us get the torpedo to med bay.  We've got to start running tests right away."

Kate nodded and replied, "Yeah, I'll be there," before the line cut off.  She turned to look at Nyota again and could feel nerves in her stomach again.  Leonard had confessed that he loved her, but it was in a high stress situation.  He could've only admitted it because of the stress he was under, and it might not actually change anything between them, and that thought made her incredibly anxious to see him again.