@riskful wonders: are you alright?
STAR TREK ENTERPRISE, SEASON ONE. (always accepting.)
“I’m fine.”
He’s not, by any sense or meaning of the word. The blast wound in his side burns and stings and, thanks to the planet’s heat, he already feels a feverish, sickly warmth beginning to spread.
But the ensign’s priority is his captain: just as the son’s priority is his father.
A little directing of the away team’s worry and urgency it all fell into place. It wouldn’t last forever, he knew that, he wasn’t stupid, but it didn’t need to. It just needed to last until they were alright and they were so close. He’d kept it up this long, he could keep it up a little further.
And there was the stubborn side of him, the one that had Kirk written all over it, that didn’t want to admit he’d gotten himself hurt on one of his first away missions.
“We’re almost there. It’s just up ahead—”
He stumbles, tripping over his own feet, bracing himself up against a nearby rock face as the grasp on his emotions slips for a minute, letting them flood out of him. Every inch of him is heavy and hot and pain and he shivers. He closes his eyes, trying to stop his head from swimming.
