Chapter Text
Bones had diagnosed a stroke a handful of times throughout his medical career, admittedly long before joining the crew of the USS Enterprise. That being said, he hadn't been expecting to ever experience one.
He was on the bridge pestering the captain to try to get him to finally show up for his mandated physical when it happened. It started out as a splitting headache that made him close his eyes. The captain didn't notice, since his old friend was standing behind him. McCoy didn't even notice how dark everything got behind his eyelids.
"Bones? Bones you all right?" Kirk furrowed his eyebrows. The doctor had stopped making sense.
"Jim, it's important that you- that- you can't just-" Bones couldn't figure out what he was trying to say. "Ah, hell, y'know- say- somethin', I-" He waved one hand, clearly frustrated.
Bones' right side gave out under him and he swayed before crumpling to the floor. Kirk leapt out of his chair to catch at least his upper half before he hit the ground. Spock declared a medical emergency while Jim tried to get Bones to respond. The doctor looked like he was trying to talk, but couldn't. Nurse Chapel appeared with a stretcher and Jim helped her load McCoy onto it.
________________________________________
"Spock, you think he'll be all right?" Jim was pacing outside an isolation room in Sickbay.
The Vulcan quirked an eyebrow. "Nurse Chapel seems to think Doctor McCoy experienced an ischemic stroke. The likelihood that he will be in perfect health after this is-"
"Spare me the decimals, Spock." Jim stopped pacing. "I'm going back to the bridge. Comm me when he wakes up?"
Spock nodded, his hands clasped tightly behind his back, and watched Jim disappear down the hallway. He stayed still like a soldier until Chapel came to get him.
"He's awake, Commander. But you need to know- he hasn't said a word." Chapel sighed. “It’s not likely he will- he seems to understand, but he can’t respond. At least not verbally. He’s got a padd he can type on.” She sighed. “I’m keeping him here for at least the rest of the week, with plans to begin rehabilitative therapy immediately. I’m going to comm the captain and submit a formal report.” Her eyes were red.
Spock had stopped listening, staring at McCoy through the window in the door. “Thank you, Nurse. I’m sure the captain will be pleased to hear that the Doctor is awake.” He tried to ignore the un-Vulcan like stab of pain at the very back of his mind.
________________________________________
McCoy looked up at Spock and gave him half of a smile. The other side of his mouth twitched upward, but the stroke had weakened his muscles significantly. “Doctor McCoy.” Spock said, his face as blank as ever, and took a seat next to Bones’ biobed. “Can you understand me?”
Bones typed his response with shaky hands.
Yes.
The lack of insult worried Spock. Usually, ‘yes’ would be followed by ‘hobgoblin’, ‘computer’, or some other insult the older man came up with. “Do you need anything?”
Another blanket please. And a distraction.
“Of course.” Spock got up and found McCoy another thermal blanket, mindlessly chattering about whatever project the science department was working on that he thought would interest the doctor. “The discovery of which lead us to realize that instead of encouraging a culture of self-sustaining, single celled bacteria as we had previously hypothesized, we ended up encouraging a cluster of nerve cells to reproduce…” He tucked the blanket around Bones. “The implications of which are quite clear, if we could figure out how to apply a similar principle to human neurons, it is likely we could repair damage left behind by- “He cut himself off. “Never mind.”
Strokes.
“That was my assumption, yes.” He sank back into his chair, confident that Leonard McCoy would not be telling anyone about his conduct any time soon. “My apologies. I believe I have demonstrated ‘poor bedside manner’.”
Bones laughed. It’s a good thing you’re not a doctor, then. He closed his eyes for a moment. But did your nerve cells show signs of intercellular communication?
Spock went on to explain the rest of the experiment long after doctor McCoy had fallen asleep. Jim eventually came in and sat with both of them, listening to Spock ramble on.
________________________________________
After a few weeks, it became apparent that Leonard McCoy was going to take a while to recover his ability to speak. He kept trying and even managed to make a few noises. They weren’t speech sounds by any standard, but he was progressing well. He was still using the padd to communicate. Jim appointed Nurse Chapel as the acting CMO for gamma shift, M’Benga took over alpha, and the two of them switched on and off for beta.
After a month, he was starting to make speech sounds and was beginning to be able to string them together to produce words. Nurse Chapel was excited, as it meant she would no longer have to be the acting CMO when M’Benga wasn’t on shift.
________________________________________
“Bones, I’m not allowing you to return to any form of duty until you can speak again.” Jim had made his decision abundantly clear. “I know you’re not asking, but you scared the shit outta me and I don’t want you to push yourself.”
Course, Jim.
“Thank you.” Jim had visibly relaxed. “Spock volunteered to be your caretaker until you see fit.”
Why? He doesn’t like me.
“I think he was ‘pulling pigtails’.” The captain laughed. “Kinda like you were.”
Shut it, kid.
Jim tucked Bones back under the blankets when he started falling asleep and set the padd where it wouldn’t get broken.
________________________________________
“Doctor, do you require assistance?” Spock asked, raising his eyebrow when McCoy dropped his spoon for the sixth time in one meal. Bones shook his head, determined to feed himself. His arm still shook with fatigue.
Once Bones was done with his food and thoroughly exhausted, Spock put his hand on his wrist. “It is not shameful to ask for help.”
Only if you actually need help. I won’t get any better if I don’t do these things for myself. Bones formed his mouth around the words and kept trying to push his vocal chords to work. He knew he had muscular issues that were affecting his larynx, and continuing to try to speak was apparently helpful. He ended up producing a strained, pieced together version of his sentence that wouldn’t have made sense if he wasn’t telepathically connected to the Vulcan.
“Ashayam, your speech is improving well.” Spock regretted using ‘ashayam’ immediately after he said it- Bones would know what it meant, the two of them were in contact and Spock could not stop the emotive response associated with the word.
Ashayam means ‘beloved’, right?
“Yes.”
“Ah-s-am” Bones croaked, startling himself and grinning. I’m close!
“Yes, you’re very close. Perhaps ‘pla-kur’ would be easier for you to attempt? It means 'blue'.”
“Pa-kur.” Bones kept trying until he got even remotely close. It took him a while. “Pl-ah-kur?” He broke it down into simpler sounds and spoke slowly.
“Very good, Leonard.” Spock’s grin slowly fell into a slight, more Vulcan smile.
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to talk again.
Spock startled slightly. He didn’t expect Bones to share his concerns. Jim had, after a while, confided in Spock that he didn’t think he’d ever hear Bones harass him about not showing up for his physical exam again.
“Clearly, that is not the case.”
Leonard just sighed and pushed his tray away from him. He usually took meals in bed, as not having to support his entire body weight and worry about eating at the same time usually worked out better for him. Spock moved the tray off of his lap and helped him adjust his pillows. “You should sleep, ashayam. You need the rest.”
McCoy made a noise that sounded vaguely like ‘yes’, followed by his best rendition of “pla-kur”.
________________________________________
When Bones was first released from Sickbay, Spock had to push him in a wheelchair. After he regained enough muscle mass to walk on unsteady legs, Spock just wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him stay upright.
After a few weeks, Bones was allowed to walk around with just a cane and didn’t need Spock to steady him. The Vulcan still accompanied him everywhere unless he was on an away mission. If that were the case, Jim was glued to the doctor’s hip and kept him upright and laughing.
It was on one of those days that Bones said his first, full, Standard word. He kept the padd nearby, and the word came out as a series of raspy syllables, but he figured it out. He and Jim were walking slowly down the hallway so that they could talk to each other. “Captain.” He grinned. Jim looked at him for a moment, startled by the sound of his voice.
I’m gonna ask Spock to dinner.
“Don’t the two of you eat dinner together anyway?”
Yeah, but this time I’m gonna actually sit at a table. McCoy knew he was going to be exhausted by the end of it, but he wanted to welcome Spock back from an absurdly long diplomatic mission planet side. “M excited.”
Jim chuckled. “C’mon. Uhura has something for you.”
Once they got to the bridge, Uhura handed McCoy a different padd. “I’ve written and uploaded a program on there so all you have to do is press a few symbols and the padd will play a voice recording of what you want to say. There’s a key taped to the back.” She grinned. McCoy found ‘thanks’ and played it, surprised when Sulu’s voice played out of the small speaker. “Oh! Sulu and Scotty let me record them saying a bunch of words and use them so you have some form of a voice instead of just a computer.”
“Thanks.” McCoy’s voice hurt him to use every once in a while, but it was more that he was constantly exhausted. He still wasn’t used to using his weakened muscles. He looked over at Spock’s empty station and turned the volume down so he could talk privately with Uhura about how to use the program.
________________________________________
Bones was leaning on the wall opposite the transporter pad, waiting with his newly updated padd for Spock. When the Vulcan appeared, Bones grinned. “Pock.” Leonard still couldn’t quite string ‘s’ and ‘p’ together, so Spock’s name became ‘pock’. He reached his free hand out and Spock wrapped a supportive arm around his waist. The doctor let his hand snake around Spock’s back.
“Ashayam, I hope you didn’t miss me too much.”
“Look.” McCoy showed Spock the program Uhura had written him. “Sulu and ‘Cotty.” He was frustrated that he couldn’t speak in full sentences all the time yet, but Chapel was helping him still get his speech sounds down first. It had been about two months since he’d collapsed on the bridge.
“This appears to be a most beneficial program- has Lieutenant Uhura submitted it to Starfleet as well?”
“Dunno.” McCoy leaned into Spock. He still tired easily. Spock supported him on their walk back to their now-shared quarters. “I’m tired.” He groused quietly, making Spock smile. It was nice to hear Bones speak in a sentence, even if he was complaining.
“Then we shall postpone our dinner plans until you are feeling up to them, Leonard.”
Spock helped Leonard get into bed and curled up around him before ordering the lights to ten percent and listening to Leonard fall asleep.
________________________________________
Seven months after his stroke, Leonard McCoy was able to have a short conversation. He still tired easily, but he could physically talk without the padd for a few minutes at a time. Spock had insisted on continually pushing off their dinner plans until Leonard could sit up and eat without the use of pillows. The two of them made their way to the mess hall, grabbed food from a replicator, and sat down.
“Ashayam, how are you feeling?”
“I’m doing all right, ‘Pock.” Leonard kept up ‘pock’ more to see the amused look in Spock’s face than because he was having difficulty pronouncing his name. “Not quite so tired all the time.”
They kept on like that for a while, Leonard switching between using the padd and using his voice.
“Leonard, may I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
Spock looked like he was pulling together the determination to speak. For once, it wasn’t McCoy who was at a loss for words. “Leonard, I have been your primary caretaker for the past five months. In that time, I have gotten to know you better than I ever had and melded with your mind. I am now asking that you enter a Vulcan bond with me.”
“Bond?” Leonard raised an eyebrow. “We’re not?”
“The rudiments of a bond are present, but not purposefully planted, no.”
“Yes. Yes.” McCoy tapped the button on the padd twice, Scotty’s voice sounding through the mess hall.
________________________________________
Once they were officially and purposefully bonded, Spock was more capable of sensing McCoy’s needs. He could tell when the doctor was getting fatigued, when he just didn’t want to talk, or if he needed physical support to walk. His muscles were rebuilding rapidly after he’d been cleared for light physical activity. In return, Bones could tell when Spock needed him to talk and when he just needed to be near him, and Bones would try his hardest to keep Spock happy. It usually worked for both of them, and kept McCoy from feeling like he was locked in when he had bad days and just didn't want to speak at all.
A year and a half after his stroke, Bones made his decision.
“Pock.” Bones slowly got himself onto one knee. “I know we’re bonded, but marry me?” He had a ring in the palm of his hand. It wasn’t anything crazy, just a simple gold braided band with a single, small blue gem in the center. Spock nodded and put the ring on his finger.
“Of course, ashayam.”
Bones and Spock got married by Jim quickly (McCoy still had trouble standing for long periods of time) and had the promise of their next shore leave being their longest for their honeymoon.
________________________________________
When their time for shore leave came three months after they got married, Bones was having a bad day. He didn’t want to talk because his throat was sore, his legs didn’t want to hold him up, and his arm trembled whenever he tried to lift it. He’d known he was going to have these days, but Spock’s determination to take care of him convinced him it wasn’t going to last forever. His husband pushed him on the beach in his wheelchair and nattered on about something to distract him. Bones leaned down on his weak side and picked up a little twisted shell. He passed it shakily to Spock, who placed it gently in the pocket of his wheelchair and kept going.
“Ashayam, how are you?”
Bones hit the ‘tired’ button.
“It will pass.”
Bones nodded and let Spock push him. “Pock.” He put his strong hand on Spock’s where he was holding the chair. “Love you.” He smiled.
Spock kissed the top of his head and grinned. “I return that sentiment, Leonard. Though perhaps it is time both of us retired?” Spock didn’t know if he meant from Starfleet or for the evening, and he didn’t think Bones knew either when he tapped ‘yes’.