Final Frontier

Chapter Twenty-Two

Star Date - 2264.128 / 07.05.2264

"Alright I'm here, what did you want?" Bones sighed tiredly entering Jim's quarters, exhausted after his fourteen-hour shift. An incident that occurred just before the end of Alpha shift had driven dozens of extra patients though the door, all requiring urgent treatment. He didn't think twice and stayed to help; it was after all his responsibility as the chief medical officer. It was only when they'd manged to get everyone assessed and treatments underway that Lex had managed to shoo him away, declaring the Beta shift was more than capable and to get out of what was currently her Med Bay.

He let her get away with far more than any other doctor on his staff, she was rarely outright insubordinate, but she certainly flirted with that line on a daily basis.

Bones was aware he should stop it, bring her back into line with the others, but he couldn't bring himself to, he was just so relieved that she felt comfortable enough to tease him like she used to.

On voicing his concerns to Joanna a few months ago she'd turned her psychology degree on him, suggesting he enjoyed the attention no matter how much he claimed it irked him. He dismissed the concept of course, but privately couldn't help but wonder if she had a point, he rarely saw much of Lex outside of Med Bay these days thanks to her new relationship.

Bones started when he realised Jim was waving a hand in his face, calling his name loudly, apparently, he'd drifted off into his own thoughts blocking out everything else. It happened alarmingly often these days, though more so when he was tired.

"Sit down and have a drink Bones, you look like hell" Jim muttered, pointing him towards the sofa as he headed over to the kitchen to pour him a cup of coffee.

"Yeah, why not after the day I've had" Bones exhaled, wearily sinking down into the plush furniture, idly wondering why Jim's sofa was so much more comfortable than his own.

"How bad?" Jim asked, holding out the coffee to Bones who raised an eyebrow at him. With a quick eyeroll Jim produced a flask from his pocket, adding a generous measure to the steaming liquid, Bones grunting in approval and accepting the cup.

"There was some sort of plasma leak on deck twelve" Bones intoned, sipping his drink reverently.

When Jim dropped down next to him, eyes wide with concern Bones waved him off "They got it cleaned up pretty quick, but there were a number of the crew brought in with quite serious burns"

Jim frowned "Why didn't I hear about this?"

Shrugging Bones placed his already half empty cup down on the table in front of him, before continuing "Over as quickly as it started, Lieutenant Deacon was nearby. Got it under control and even helped some of the injured crew down to Med Bay when he was done"

"Sounds like that's a good thing" Jim muttered with another frown, zeroing in on the bite to Bones' tone at the mention of Lex's boyfriend.

"I didn't say it wasn't" Bones retorted with a shake of his head, he was too tired to deal with Jim nagging him about this today.

"Yeah, but the snarl on your face said otherwise" Jim sighed, he was just as tired of trying to convince Bones to give Filip a chance as the doctor was at hearing it, but he persisted for the sake of crew harmony if nothing else.

"I don't like the guy" Bones snapped, well aware he was being unreasonable but not caring much at this precise moment.

"I know you don't" Jim started carefully "But if it wasn't for the fact that he's dating Lex, I think you two would actually get along quite well"

Bones snorted, this was at least a new approach Jim was taking, which intrigued him "What makes you say that?"

"Everyone gets along with him" Jim shrugged as if it was obvious.