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McCoy stared at Kirk. He hated to admit it, but his gut agreed with Spock. This was not the Jim Kirk that was McCoy’s friend. Nor was it the friend of Spock’s. Kirk was emotional, disjointed, and erratic. How his scans had passed for normal was still a mystery to the doctor. And Dr. Coleman had been very strange. Could Spock be right? Was Jim trapped in Janice Lester’s body? They had seen weird things with minds/souls. Sargon had been able to trap Jim’s soul into a sphere. Maybe alien technology could swap souls into bodies. After all this, did that mean people had souls that lived after death? McCoy wished he knew the answer.
He switched his gaze to Janice Lester. She sat with the confidence of Jim Kirk. The way she looked at Spock had that same love-sick that was pure Jim Kirk. Spock was right.
Suddenly, Janice in Kirk’s body stiffened, and her mood shifted even more drastically. She flashed a smile at Spock and cooed, “Spock, it’s always been you, you know it’s always been you, say you love me too.”
McCoy’s jaw dropped. He glanced at Spock whose eyes had gone wide and his mouth was slightly agape. The Vulcan sat up even straighter. Kirk in Janice’s body had tensed as well and his face flashed anger mixed with jealousy. Dr. Coleman’s body tensed with the same level of jealousy. As Coleman’s mouth opened, Janice turned to him. “Get the phaser, Dr. Coleman.”
Coleman took the phaser from the wide-eyed security guard and held it with slightly trembling hands.
“Change the setting to kill,” Lester ordered in Kirk’s voice.
Coleman moved his hand to comply with shaking hands. “Janice, what are you doing?” he hissed.
Lester was no longer trying to hide the fact that it was her inside Kirk’s body.
She ignored the doctor. She glared at her own body and sneered at Kirk. “So how long have you been in love with him?”
Kirk responded in Lester’s voice with the steel determination McCoy knew of his friend. “My feelings for Spock are irrelevant. You do not know him or me very well if you thought your public declaration of affection for him would make him turn against me.”
Lester laughed. It was eerie hearing Kirk’s laughter. “I saw him hold your hand. A Vulcan holding your hand. I guess I never stood a chance. I’m not a man or a Vulcan.” She laughed again. “Well, I’m a man now.”
Coleman tried to get back in on the conversation. “Janice! What are you doing?”
She turned to him. “Kill everyone except Kirk and Spock.”
Coleman visibly trembled. “I can’t. I can’t kill anymore.”
Lester’s laugh was malicious. “You’ve just told them you’ve killed people already. You’ll be imprisoned you fool. Don’t worry. It’s going to appear that Janice Lester went crazy and got control of the phaser and killed everyone. It’s so sad. She’s going to be killed by Captain Kirk though, so it’ll be alright.” She laughed again. “But not before I have my fun with them. I am going to feel what my body felt like to Captain Kirk. I’m going to fuck him so--”
Spock’s voice was pure ice. “You will not touch him.”
McCoy watched as Kirk smiled slightly at Spock. The eyes were definitely the window to the soul he thought. It may have been Lester’s face they were looking at, but her eyes shone with proof that Jim was in that body.
Lester laughed. “I will. I’m going to have so much fun with him. Don’t worry. I’ll play with you too.”
Kirk’s eyes lit with fire. Spock pursed his lips in a firm thin line. “You will not touch him. I assure you that you will die if you try to harm him any further.”
Lester seemed to be enjoying this. “He must be a good fuck for you.”
Kirk inhaled deeply. “Janice, leave him alone. Spock and I have never been physically intimate. Stop this.”
“You’re lying,” she insisted. “I watched him hold your hand. I see the way he looks at you.”
“Janice, I am telling you that is the most he has ever done. Leave him alone.”
This inspired her even more. “Well, that’ll be even more fun.” She turned towards Spock. “You’ll finally get your wish of feeling what Captain Kirk feels like.”
Spock’s right hand was clenched into a tight fist that was trembling ever so slightly. McCoy watched his two best friends suffer. This was not the way that he had hoped they would have been able to acknowledge their feelings for each other.
McCoy looked at Coleman whose grip on the phaser looked weak. If one of them moved, he was sure the rest of them could get control of the phaser. But someone was going to be hit in the process. He could see the young security guard watch the proceedings in shock. The doctor wanted to holler at him to take the phaser, but he knew the guard would die and he could not ask someone to die in his place. McCoy already was sure that Spock had every intention of being the one to insert himself between Jim and the phaser. McCoy decided that the moment the opportunity presented itself he would step in instead. That way Kirk and Spock could be together. They deserved that. For a moment he felt sadness that he would never see his daughter again. But he thought of how much Kirk and Spock loved each other and he was resolute and comfortable with his decision.
Spock seemed to have reached the same level of comfort with his decision. He ignored everyone in the room and looked at Kirk with such love in his eyes that McCoy knew the second he was done speaking Spock had every intention of sacrificing himself for Jim. “Jim,” Spock began softly. “I regret that I could not tell you my feelings sooner. I regret many things. But I will always love you.”
Spock began to stand but as he did, Lester collapsed in pain. “No, no, no!” She screamed. “The transference is--”
McCoy watched as Lester’s body collapsed likewise. Suddenly the male body stood, and it was instantly clear that Kirk was back in his own body. He tugged his uniform tunic down and then glared at Janice in disgust. “Fucking asshole—you got a hard-on from thinking about raping me and Spock!”
Coleman had already moved to Lester’s side. She was weakly lifting her head, tears streaming down her face. The doctor took her into his arms and turned the phaser on them. No one moved. Coleman pressed the button and Lester and Coleman disappeared in the vaporizing stream. Kirk stood looking at the empty space and then sat down, visibly shaken. Spock was by his side in a moment and laid his hand on Kirk’s right shoulder. Gently, Kirk laid his left hand on top of Spock’s. His voice was soft, but everyone in the room could hear him. “I love you Spock. I’m sorry it was like this, but I am not sorry that I have finally gotten the chance to tell you that. I will always love you too.”
Kirk’s voice was a little louder as he addressed the room. “Let’s all finish our reports and get back to work.”
McCoy interrupted the room. “Not you or Spock. You’re on medical leave until I say so.” He smiled at his best friends. “Emotional distress and all. Report to sickbay tomorrow morning for further assessment.” He widened his grin. “Congratulations. It’s about damn time.”
“Thank you, Bones,” Kirk said. He held out his hand to Spock and the two of them left the briefing room together.
McCoy looked over at Scotty who smiled at him. “That was a close call.”
“Aye. Too close.”
The doctor clapped the engineer on the shoulder. “But at least something good came from all of it.”
“Aye, that it did,” Scotty agreed.
They left the briefing room and McCoy returned to sickbay to figure out how to document everything and how to get the happy couple a decent vacation together. A medically mandated shore leave sounded like a good plan. He just had to get Starfleet brass on board. Well, there were perks of being the CMO of Starfleet’s flagship and he decided to flex that title for everything he needed.