Author:  Ster Julie

Codes:  TOS; S, Mc; written for Spiced Peaches

Rating:  PG

Part 1 of 1

Summary:  After Spock is injured, he needs physical therapy.  McCoy is only too happy to comply.

A/N:  I get my story inspirations from real life.  This story came to me during a physical therapy session.  This story reference the TOS episodes:  The Galileo Seven; Return of the Archons; A Private Little War; Mirror, Mirror; Spectre of the Gun; and Is Their No Truth in Beauty.

--ooOoo-- 

“Doctor McCoy, are these physical therapy session really necessary? I have my own exercise regimen that is quite adequate.”

“You may have a passel of degrees, Spock, but that doesn’t make you a medical doctor.  That boulder you took to the thigh not only broke your femur, but it damaged several muscles.  Your mind may say there’s no pain, but your body knows how damaged you really are.  Over-stressing those injured muscles and causing further damage to them is just not logical.”

Spock mastered the urge to sigh and roll his eyes at the doctor’s twisted logic, correct though it may be.  The Vulcan knew how serious the leg fracture was, and strengthening the muscles was indeed logical, but the thought of McCoy’s warm hands touching him, feeling his leg with gentle strength caused a disturbing reaction.  Spock felt a fluttering sensation in his abdomen, a peculiar kind of rushing warmth, and, oh, the urges!

Spock tried to concentrate on doing the strengthening, the stretching and the weight-bearing exercises to distract himself from the good doctor's presence, his clean and honey-sweet scent, so very, very near to him.  As he exercised, Spock averted his eyes from looking at McCoy's lithe form, his compact muscles, his balls-of-the feet stance (as if he were equally ready to fight or dance, Spock decided).  The Vulcan tried to distract himself by running computations through his head, by going over inventory logs, by...  Oh, dear, Spock thought as McCoy's warm hands were gently probing Spock's injured leg.

One hour never passed so slowly.  What torture!

–

Once again Spock was injured, this time by a lead projectile to his back.  Once again McCoy  became his physical therapist.

“Doctor McCoy, I do not wish to swim at this time.”

“Too bad, Spock, because water therapy is the best type of exercise for people with back injuries.  First off, is the water warm enough for you?”

“It is adequate,” Spock murmured as he averted his eyes from McCoy stripping down to his trunks and joining him in the water.  The Vulcan felt plenty warm, and it wasn't from just the water.

“Just walk across the pool.  Simple as that.  Start off easy, then try to push against the water.  It will provide resistance to your movements.”

McCoy stayed with Spock as they walked easy laps back and forth across the pool.  The doctor tried to stay professional, but seeing Spock in swim trunks walking through the water, observing the Vulcan's lean form and rippling muscles caused a disturbing reaction in himself. 

Thank God for the water! he thought.

After completing several laps, McCoy helped Spock out of the pool and onto a mat.   

“Now lay on your back with your knees bent.  Slowly let your knees fall to the right, then back to center then to the left.  Slow and easy.”

McCoy towel dried his hair, then grabbed another towel for Spock.

Oh, my, Spock thought as the doctor dried him off.

“Okay, bring your knees back to center.  Push down with your heels, then raise your hips.  Hold it a few seconds, then lower your hips slowly.  See how your hips are swaying side to side as you lower them?  That tells me your back muscles are weak.  Do these for several minutes.  Let me know if you are experiencing any pain.”

Pain, Spock thought.  The only pain I am experiencing is from my trunks as I do these pelvic thrusts!

Pain, McCoy thought.  I am the one experiencing pain, pain from my trunks as I watch him do these pelvic thrusts!  All I want to do is ride that pony.  Ow!  Damn.

Spock was surprised when McCoy jumped back into pool.

The doctor called from the relative safety of the far end of the pool, “That's enough for one day, Spock.  Go dry out in the sauna.”

–

“Your mind to my mind ...your thoughts to my thoughts.  The bullets are unreal ...without body.  They are illusions only.  Shadows … without substance.  They will not pass through your body for they do not exist.”

“They … do not …   exist.”

Spock had done three mind melds in a matter of minutes.  He had melded with Kirk before.  Entering the captain's mind was familiar, so that experience was brief and did not disturb the Vulcan.  Mr. Scott's mind was refreshingly disciplined.  It took only seconds for Spock to complete the task.

The meld with McCoy was a different matter.  Spock had melded with the doctor once before after McCoy's “absorption” into the followers of Landru, but this time Spock had to also deal with the trauma his counterpart had inflicted in the mirror universe.  As he tried to gently put those memories aside, Spock noticed McCoy's feelings for him, an attraction to himself that rivaled his own for the good doctor. 

Spock did not have sufficient time to examine this new information.  He had to complete his task before 5:00.  He had to make certain that his comrades were ready to face the Earps at the OK Corral.

–

Spock was too busy tossing and turning in his sleep to notice the sudden presence of McCoy in his quarters.  The doctor came in like a sleepwalker and walked right to his bedside.  McCoy came out of his trance-like state when Spock startled awake. 

“Easy, easy.  I've got you, Spock.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I heard you calling me.  I think.  It seemed like a dream.  I knew you were in distress, so I came here and found you having a nightmare.  Are you alright now?  If you weren't Vulcan, I'd say you looked scared half to death.”

“I was.  I was remembering my brush with madness today.”

“Oh, Spock.  C'mere.”

McCoy crushed the Vulcan to his chest.  Spock settled into the safety of McCoy's embrace and considered the doctor's words, I heard you calling me. 

Are we linked? Spock wondered.  He had to work so quickly in the meld with McCoy during the Melkotian's punishment at the faux OK Corral.  Had he accidentally created a permanent link with the doctor?

Spock thought back to that meld.  He had discovered that McCoy harbored emotions for him, emotions that rivaled his own in their intensity.  Are we t'hy'lae?  No, Spock realized.  We may be more.  We may be k'hat'n'dlawa.  If so, the link would have created itself, which it apparently did.

I should let go of him, McCoy thought.  However, when the doctor loosened his arms, Spock tightened his.  Oh, ho! McCoy thought as he felt the change in Spock, in how his arms went from clutching at him like an anchor in a storm to caressing his back gently.

“Spock?”

“It is illogical to protest against our nature, don't you think?”

“If that's supposed to be a pick-up line, Spock, it stinks.”

“C'mere, Leonard.”

“That's more like it.”

END

Vulcan words from the Vulcan Language Dictionary:

t'hy'la—friend, brother or lover

k'hat'n'dlawa—Other half of one's heart and soul (soul mate)