Vaccine Day at Starfleet Academy
This is all settledinmydaze’s fault. I take no responsibility. She made me do it.
Bones glanced over at the notification on the screen- “Cadet Vaccinations Tomorrow”
Dammit, he thought. I HATE cadet vaccinations. It wasn’t the steady stream of bright-eyed youngsters; it wasn’t the sore arm from hundreds of hypo injections. It was the inevitable avalanche of allergic reactions to the vaccine from one cadet: James T. Kirk.
Jim hadn’t seemed like the kind of guy to take poorly to a hypo. After all, he was confident to the point of being obnoxious, self-aware, always in control. The first time vaccinations rolled around, Jim had sauntered into medical bay with the air of a man who had plans to conquer the world. Bones hadn’t even given him the hypo that day, but he sure as hell had dealt with the fallout afterwards.
Prepping hypos absentmindedly, Bones let his thoughts drift back to that day, a week after they’d first shared a drink on the shuttle- two lost souls who suddenly had found another person with nowhere to go. He’d had to give up two full days to take care of Jim’s reactions to the vaccine. This time, he would be prepared.
—-
Jim sat down hesitantly. “This isn’t going to be like last time, is it?” Bones sighed. “It’s going to be worse. This vaccine is for the bite of Denebian slime devils. It’s nasty and it’s going to give you a hell of a lot of problems for me to fix.” “Awesome…” Jim muttered as Bones brought the hypo over.
“OUCH! You know, I thought hypos were invented to be PAINLESS.” “They were,” Bones retorted. “Now, I’ve developed a fool-proof plan for dealing with your ridiculous symptoms. First step: get you someplace you can’t hurt yourself.”
Jim reluctantly headed back towards the barracks. He noticed Bones was carrying a med case with something handwritten on the cover- “JIM’S STUPID ALLERGIES”. Nice, he thought. Well, at least he planned ahead.
Hours later, Bones sat by Jim’s bed reading the latest medical journal. He’d given his best friend a sedative around the time his complaining had reached infantile proportions. Suddenly Jim’s breathing became unsteady; sighing, Bones pulled yet another hypo from the case and jammed it into Jim’s neck with as much bedside manner as he could muster.
“OUCH! Bones, I’m trying to sleep here!”
“Jim, I’m a doctor, not the sandman! Do you want to be awake and breathing or asleep and dead? Trust me, I’d rather be anywhere but sitting up all night while you get numb-tongue and a flop sweat. Here, I’ll give you another sedative.”
“I wish I didn’t know you.”
“Don’t be such an infant.”
The next morning, Bones reflected on his ordeal as he made his way back to med bay. Jim’d better appreciate what I go through to keep his ass from dying- I’m going to be asleep on my feet all damn day, he fumed, aggravated at the knowledge that this kid had somehow found his way into that big, compassionate heart he tried so hard to hide.
Well, at least it’s a whole year til the next vaccinations, he thought, and returned the case to it’s place in his office- on a shelf next to a picture some camera-happy cadet had taken the day he and Jim had arrived, two lost souls who finally had found a friend.
