Title: Medically Absolved

Author: Tempest

Series: TOS

Paring: S/Mc, S/f implied

Rating: PG, sexual reference, fetish content

Summary: After Sarpiedon, Spock and McCoy have some relationship problems. Fortunately, they find a solution, and Kirk’s in for a big surprise.

Disclaimer: Star Trek and all of its relations are property of Paramount and Viacom. I only own this story. Problems with male homosexuality? Please stay away. Flames and feedback are welcome. For archiving, please ask author permission first.

Author’s Notes: Apparently, I’m a miserable failure at writing fetish stories. All I can say is “I’ll try harder next time.” Oh, by the way, when I say fetish, I mean hypnosis.

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Medically Absolved

By Tempest

June 30, 2005

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Captain James T. Kirk rubbed at his chin, as he rode the turbolift to Deck Eight. His depilatory was wearing off again. The formula was obviously working wrong. He’d set Spock on it when he came back to duty. Until then, he’d just cope with shaving.

      When the turbo lift doors opened, he walked with stride towards the sickbay. He hadn’t seen McCoy since the return from Sarpeidon four days ago, since the Engineering accident had happened mere hours afterward. This was the first time sickbay was clear and he’d decided to take advantage.

      As he stepped through the doors, he was struck by how empty the sickbay was. Understandable, of course, the staff had been working round the clock to tend to the engineers. McCoy most likely gave them all the day off, with the understanding that Alpha shift was on call should anything arise. Despite his reputation as a curmudgeon, he was an old softie at heart.

      He was somewhat surprised that Spock wasn’t lying on a biobed, since the sickbay was so empty. Ever since the advent of their private relationship, McCoy was overcautious when it came to the Vulcan’s health, and for all their arguments, Spock was compliant. He’d ask McCoy about it when he made his way into his office.

      He’d just turned the corner from the main sickbay, his attention elsewhere, when he caught sight of another person, in medical uniform. This wouldn’t normally evoke a double-take, but in the abandoned state of sickbay, he wanted to catch the identity of the devoted worker, perhaps to give him a commendation. One of those from the Captain always looked good.

      It was when he took his look that his jaw dropped and he blinked rapidly. He was obviously seeing things. It just wasn’t possible. But then the man turned around, and proved Kirk’s eyes correct.

      Commander Spock, first Officer of the Enterprise, stood in a male-nurse uniform, complete with Lieutenant Rank, tending to basic filing tasks.

      He didn’t appear to see Kirk, as he walked past him, entered McCoy’s office. A quick conversation between the two was exchanged, mostly professional, as far as Kirk’s ears could make out. That answered his first question. McCoy obviously knew what was going on. Now only for him to answer the dozens of others that were floating through his brain.

      Without knocking, he entered McCoy’s office, stepped over to his desk, and said in his strongest command tone, “Doctor McCoy.”

      McCoy looked up at the mention of his name, and when he realized it was Kirk, his expression changed from the somewhat easy-going one he had with Spock into surprise, followed by stress, followed by a look similar to a cat with a bird in his mouth. He held a finger up towards Kirk, indicating he needed a minute, and then turned his attention back to Spock. “Nurse, allow the Captain and I a few minutes to discuss business.”

      Spock nodded and picked up another file, before stepping out of the office, the doors sliding closed behind him.

      “Well?” Kirk asked, the expression on his face anything but pleased.

      “Well what, Jim? Don’t they need you on the bridge? Especially since Spock’s not there?”

      Kirk simply glared at him, waiting for him to take the initiative to explain. When no explanation followed, Kirk tried another prompt. “No, he’s not there. You signed him out on sick leave for the day. Something about exhaustion and then that classified code used to deal with personal matters. I come here and find sickbay empty but for you, which is expected, and Spock, dressed like that. Explanations are due, Doctor.”

      McCoy had picked up the padd Spock had brought in and began reading through it, his attention only partially on Kirk. “Why’d you come down then?”

      “I wanted to know if you wanted to meet in the mess hall for dinner and if Spock was feeling well-enough to join us. Now stop changing the subject and answer my question before I make it an order.”

      “Fine.” McCoy sat up straighter in his chair and offered the opposite one to Kirk. The Captain took it, crossed his legs, and leaned forward. “Start talking, Bones. Why’s he here, and why’s he dressed like that?”

      “We’ve had a rough few days down here, Jim. I gave the staff the day off barring another emergency, and so Spock’s my nurse for the day.” However, the smirk on McCoy’s mouth indicated there was more to it than that.

      “Since I know you wouldn’t lie on a medical form to get substitute staffing, I don’t believe you.” Kirk voice was clearly laced with irritation. He hated it when McCoy beat around the bush, especially when it affected his senior staff.

      “Fine.” McCoy leaned back in his chair and set his padd down. “You’re right. It’s much more complicated than that. Spock’s deep in a hypnotic trance right now, so much so that all he can do is concentrate on my voice and any task I assign him.”

      Kirk felt his temperature begin to raise, his voice growing loud as well. “He’s WHAT?!?!”

      McCoy reached across the desk to grab hold of Kirk’s arm, steadying him. “Calm down, Jim. He’s fine. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him. This is for his own good. Trust me.”

      “Trust you? You falsified reports and you have him down here out of his wits doing the work of the entire sickbay staff!”

      “It’s what he wanted, just let me explain.” McCoy’s eyes and tone were imploring.

      The problem was Kirk had known him too long. McCoy was trustworthy. Kirk knew it. McCoy knew he knew. And there was no use fighting it. “All right,” he whispered, accompanied by a small nod of his head.

      The doctor released his arm after a moment, giving it a friendly squeeze, before leaning back in his chair once more. “It all started with Sarpeidon. While you were getting yourself tried for witchcraft, Spock and I were caught in a prehistoric love triangle.”

      “Love-triangles generally involve more than two people, Bones.”

      Briefly, McCoy’s eyes flashed in anger, but then he calmed and folded his hands beneath the edge of the desk. “There were three of us, Jim. Me, Spock, and this pretty girl who’d been banished or stranded or something. Spock was the one who spent most of his time with her.” He paused, allowing that to sink into Kirk’s mind before continuing. “Yeah, so, I’d gotten caught in the snow, frostbite, hypothermia and all the rest of it. Spock had to nearly carry me to the cave that the girl, Zarabeth, used. I was pretty out of it, by the end; I was weaving in and out of consciousness. Spock was tending to my health, I know, because he kept being concerned in that peculiar Spock-ish way of his. But when he wasn’t with me, he was with her.”

      Kirk was unable to keep his curiosity to himself. “Bones, when you say with her, what do you mean exactly.”

      “With her, Jim. You’ve done it enough to know what it means by now.” McCoy was making a point of not looking at Kirk, and his voice was tight with irritation.

      “Sorry,” Kirk replied, not knowing what else to say.

      McCoy shrugged, returning to his story. “Anyway, the planet was getting ready to get caught up in the nova and we needed to get out of there, before getting stranded. I left, Spock followed, but we got to the portal with your help, rather than come through with me, Spock tried to push me through. Only, it didn’t work.

      "You remember, you said it, we had to go back together, or not at all. Spock was indecisive for a moment, unsure if he could leave her; he touched her face, spoke soft words of love to her, and she told him to go. She turned and left. The next moment, he took my hand and together we walked through the portal. We found you, we beamed up, and the sun when nova." McCoy took a deep breath, before continuing.

      "We thought that would be the end of it. It should have been. Missions had gone awry before and Spock always recovered from it. But, this was different. Spock just couldn't get over the fact that he'd cheated on me. Not just cheated, but had been angry with me for protesting his actions. He felt as though he had wronged me in the worst possible way. And although I kept telling him it was all right; we'd work past it, he just couldn't.

      "His guilt was eating away at him to the point that he couldn't even share a bed with me, for fear of soiling our relationship. The experience was destroying him and the guilt was destroying us both." McCoy paused, rubbing at his eyes. Discussing the displeasure of the past few days was taking its toll on his energy. "I don't know if you're too familiar with Vulcan religion, but they're heavy into penance and absolution. It surprised me at first, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Considering how rigid their society is. Sorry, I'm rambling a bit."

      "'salright, Bones. Just finish the story. I still don't see how you get from guilt-wracked Vulcan to...that." Kirk gestured at the door with his thumb.

      "I'm getting there. Penance. He wronged me, and he couldn't live with the fact that I just wanted to forgive him without doing anything to earn it. So, we talked about a way for him to earn it. He thought of the solution. Since he didn't feel he deserved to be in my bed, he decided to remove himself from my bed for his punishment. But he wanted to be of service to me, so we agreed on the professional setting, so that I could give the staff some time off." McCoy gestured meaninglessly at his surroundings.

      "And the trance, Bones?"

      "Well...” McCoy shrugged in that peculiar sign of knowledge but an inability to explain, “Spock thought I’d enjoy it. And it’d be tipping the scales in my favor, so to speak, because I’d be in control 100%”

      Kirk desired it best not to inquire further. McCoy was his best friend, Spock as well. But what got them off in the bedroom was just beyond his comfort level. “I can’t say that I approve of this, as a Captain. But, as your friend, I’ve got to say, I’m glad you’re working this out.”

      “Thanks.”

      “And, as a Captain, if you ever take advantage of your medical privileges like this again, I’m throwing you in the brig until the mission’s finished. Got it?”

      “Yeah, I got it.”

      Kirk rose from the chair, heading for the door. If this incident blew over within the next 24 hours, and all involved were able to get back to their normal lives, and more importantly, nobody else in the crew found out about it, then there would be absolutely no need for him to report the incident.

      Careful to avoid staring at Spock, who was now in the middle of calibrating the tricorders, Kirk left the sickbay, not quite sure what to think.

      McCoy waited until he heard the outer doors to sickbay slide closed, before he rose and went to the doorway, calling “Nurse, come here for a moment, will you?”

      Spock finished calibrating the tricorder in his hand before going to McCoy’s office. “Yes, Doctor?”

      McCoy smiled to himself, before motioning for the Vulcan to enter. He did, and McCoy ordered the doors to lock. He had always wanted to try out that cliché about doctors and their nurses, and this seemed the most opportune time.

      Absolution had never looked as good as a Chief Medical Officer in uniform, part of Spock’s mind thought to himself, as he prepared to follow the doctor’s orders to the letter.

                              Finit