#whose to say but Karl Uban has somethin to do with it

[mybullshitsensesaretingling]

Call Ahead Part Four

[Part One] [Part Two] [Part Three]

A/N: Lemme just show up with the final part of this that took waaaaaay too long to write. I must have switched how I wanted to finish this off a thousand times, but last night I finally settled on some that might be a little more real and raw that anyone was expecting. But here it is, in all its glory. Hope you guys like it

“Two men are looking for you,” one of the respenconists told you. 

“Unless they’re injured, sick, or dying they’re going to have to wait,” you dismissed without looking up from one of your charts. 

“I think they might have some sort of head trauma.” You were too stressed to be able to pick up on whether or not she was joking. 

Moving your narrowed eyes up to her face, you took a step back so you could see over the front desk of the ER. Two Starfleet uniforms on the other side immediately caught your attention. Jim moved to follow a nurse, a smile on his lips. Leonard backhanded him lightly in the side, laughing at him. You couldn’t help the grin that stretched across your face as you handed your charts off to the respenconist and raced out the door into the waiting room. 

“What are you guys doing here?” you asked. 

“We came to see you,” Leonard told you cheerfully. 

“Also, I think I broke a rib,” Jim said, lifting up his shirt to show you the discolored skin covering his ribcage. 

“What?” Leonard leaned forward to see it. “When did that happen?” 

“You know yesterday when-” 

“Stop talking, both of you,” you said, cutting him off. “And give me a hug.” 

Dropping his shirt, Jim rushed forward and pulled you into his arms. He squeezed you, his arms winding around you tighter and tighter, and despite his injury, he lifted you off the ground. 

“Are you trying to break my ribs too?” you wheezed, smacking his arm to get him to put you down. He complied with a laugh that quickly turned into a coughing fit. You wrapped an arm around him and lead him into the clinic. “Come on, dumbass. Let’s get you taken care of.” 

He grinned, wrapped his arm around your shoulders, and pulled you into his chest so hard that it was hard it was hard to keep walking. He rested his head on top of yours and sighed a theatrical sigh of content. You tried to move away so you could walk up right, but he only pulled you in tighter. When pulling back again still wasn’t enough to get him to release you, you reached up a poked his bruising side. He winced and let you go. 

“That’s unethical,” he grimsed. 

“You’re right,” you agreed with a nod. “And I probably shouldn’t treat you. Better keep it down to one unethical act per day.” You adjusted your grasp on him and raised your voice to get the attention of a doctor down the hall, “Amy!” She turned and you smiled, “Could you take care of my brother? He broke a rib.”

“Of course.” She walked toward you to take him off your hands. 

“Hello, Amy,” Jim grinned. 

You leaned forward and muttered, “She’s a lesbian.” 

“Really? Are you single? I’ve got a friend. She’s got a thing for doctors,” he told her as she took him into a room. 

“The man has no off button,” Leonard chuckled. 

You looked up at him. He had stayed a few paces back while you were managing your brother but now he stood right beside you. The corners of his mouth tilted up as he gazed down at you. His eyes began to roam over the features of your face that he hadn’t seen in months, but he quickly looked away and down the hallways. 

“You got an office here, Doctor?” 

“Did you come all this way just to see my office?” you smirked. 

“Among other things.” He looked down at you again, matching your expression.

“Like getting my brother some proper medical treatment?” you asked as you started down the hall towards your office. 

“Uh huh. Wait a second!” He stepped quickly to catch up with you. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

You glanced up at him with wide eyes and a soft smile. “That I love you.” 

“I’m sure it does.” He followed you into the lift. As the doors closed he rolled up on to his toes, bounced once, and rolled back down.

When he went to repeat the motion, you smiled, “I missed you.” 

He tried to hide his grin for a moment before he gave into it and wrapped an arm around you. His grip was looser than Jim’s. You stand up straight or walk away if you wanted to. You leaned into him. 

“What do you say, we get some pizza for dinner and pig out on the couch?” 

You hummed apologetically. “I’m working late tonight.” The door opened and you untangled yourself from him and stepped into the hall. 

“I thought you missed me,” he called after you

“Should’ve called ahead.”

“Smartass,” he grumbled.

“You love my smartass,” you smirked, opening a door. 

“I do,” he said with a hum as he grabbed you from behind. You wrapped your hands around his forearms and rested your head back against him. “We’re only here for a few days,” he muttered into your ear. “Take some time off.”

“Because you take so much time off?” you asked, turning your head so you could see him.

“I would if you asked.”

“Liar.” 

He chuckled and kissed your temple. The laugh had rumbled in his chest and you could feel it against your back. His embrace felt safe. It felt like home. You closed your eyes and let yourself sink into it. But something started to creep up on you from the darkness of your thoughts. Hidden in the safety Leonard brought was the danger of depending on another person. Fears that you had managed to keep at bay for at least a few months now came clawing their way to the back to the surface. Scars from the first place you called home started to itch again. 

You detached his arms from you and moved towards your desk. 

A stack of PADDs sat on the edge. A sigh left you at the thought of having to complete all the tasks on them before the end of your shift. 

“Ya know, starin’ at ‘em won’t make ‘em go away,” Leonard said from behind you, seemingly unphased by the distance you had just forced between the two of you. If you could have brought yourself to look him in the eye, you would have seen that he wasn’t.

“Burst my bubble why don’t you,” you grumbled, picking up the first PADD and dropping into your desk chair. You, somewhat begrudgingly, got to work.

Leonard moved to sit on your desk and watched as you finished the encounter report and reached for the next one. 

“You love it here don’t you?” His question made you look up from your work and he continued, “Despite the insane amount of work, how exhausted you are after a long shift,” 

“The amount of stuff I pull out of people’s butts,” you added, waving an x-ray at him. 

“You wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” he finished, before taking a closer look at the x-ray and muttering, “Man, I do not miss working ER.”

You turned your head towards the window. “If you had told me when I was nineteen that in twenty years I’d have made it on my own on the west coast, working my dream job, well, I wouldn’t’ve acted surprised because I had a cocky reputation to protect, but I wouldn’t have believed you.” 

“But here you are.” 

Swiveling in your chair, you rested your forearms on his thighs. “Thanks to you.”

“All I did was help you write a few applications. This,” he gestured at your office, “was all you.” 

“You did a lot more than that.” You reached up a hand and rested it on the side of his face, running your thumb across his cheekbone. “You look tired.” 

“Working with your brother’ll do that to a guy.” 

You chuckled lightly. “I can only imagine.” 

“You don’t have to imagine. Ask one of your nurses how they feel working with you. They’ll tell you what it’s like.” The corner of his mouth lifted under your palm. 

“Are you saying I’m as bad as my brother?”

“Worse actually.” 

“Oh, really?” you laughed as you stood up, keeping your hand on his face. 

He nodded and tugged you closer by the waist. 

“How have you put up with me for all these years?” you asked, slinging your arms around his neck. 

“I’m easily swayed by a pretty face.” 

“Is that why you still work with Jim?” 

Instead of answering, he leaned forward and kissed you. 

“Amy gave me a sticker because I was such a good patent. How come neither of you ever give me- What’s this?”

You pulled back from Leonard to see Jim standing in the doorway with a large sticker stuck to the pad of his thumb. He stared at the two of you from under furrowed, quizitive brows. 

“Just talking ‘bout how pretty you are,” you smiled, moving farther away from Leonard. 

“That’s what you talk about when you’re making out?” One of his lowered brows quirked up. “Don’t know how I feel about that.”

“We were not making out!” Your voice was uncomfortably high. No matter how old you got you would always be Jim’s baby sister and him your protective big brother. And this would always be embarrassing. It didn’t help that his best friends hand was still pressed into the small of your back. 

“Okay,” he shrugged, crossed his arms, and moved out of the doorway. “How long has this been going on?” 

Leonard studied his friend, quickly analyzing his posture and expression. “How long have you known this has been going on?” 

“Six months.”

“I told you he could taste the fake sugar,” you groaned and rolled your head back. 

“You gave him the doughnuts,” Leonard reminded you under his breath. 

“It’s been longer than that, hasn’t it?”

You sighed and looked over at Leonard. “Since my undergrad graduation.”

“Yeah, I’d say that’s when it started,” he agreed. 

Jim rubbed a hand across his face. “Bones, can I have a moment alone with my sister?” 

Leonard looked between the two of you, the tension almost visible, and slid off the desk. “Don’t have to ask me twice.” 

The door closed behind him and you fell back into your chair.  

“Years. You hid a part of your life, a part that involved my best friend, from me for years.” 

“I know. I just-” You bit the inside of your cheek. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m sorry.” 

Your eyebrows raised. 

“I spent our childhood watching you get hurt again and again. I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t protect you. When you showed up at my door when you were nineteen, battered, bruised, but so hopeful, I thought I could change things. The thought of you getting hurt like that again,” he hesitated. His eyes moved from yours. “It broke me. I tried to shield you from the world. I thought I was protecting you, but instead I became someone you couldn’t talk to.” 

“Jim, no. I-” You looked down at your hands, fingers wrapping and unwrapping from each other, tugging and pushing. Anything to not be still. “Maybe that was part of it.” You sighed and leaned back. “It didn’t start out that way. It was just one night. I figured you didn’t need to know that your best friend screwed you little sister. Then it turned into something else. It didn’t make sense and as long as it was just between the two of us, it didn’t have to. Telling you would complicate things. It would make it real, and I guess I wasn’t ready for that. Then six months ago, I,” you took a breath, gathering your strength before you forced the words out. “I told him I loved him, and it turned into something. Something I knew I wanted, but I still couldn’t tell you. He wanted me to so badly, but I just couldn’t get passed this feeling I got in my chest every time I thought about it.” 

“Did he say it back?” 

“That he loved me?” the laugh the accompanied your words was a hollow one used to cover your discomfort not to show your joy. “Yeah. He did.” 

“That’s why he’s been so happy. He’s in love. He loves you.” 

It wasn’t a question, but you nodded.

“And you love him.” 

Again you nodded. 

“You’re dating my best friend and you’re in love. You’re dating Bones. Oh my god he’s so old. But it’s fine because you’re in love and I’m happy for you and-” 

“Jim, a breath? Take one.” 

This time he nodded, taking a noticeably large breath. 

“Are you okay with this?” you asked. 

He was quiet, coming to perch where Leonard had been moments ago. His eyes moved across your face, trying to figure out what you weren’t saying. He was choosing every word he was going to say carefully. 

“You lied to me for years, so now you owe me one. So you’re gonna listen to me and take my advice,” he told you, but didn’t give you time to respond. “Bones would never hurt you.” 

You furrowed your brows. “I know that.” 

“I think you need to hear it. He won’t hurt you. It’s okay to let him in. It’s time to stop using me as an excuse to keep this from becoming all that it could be. Let him love you in every way we both know he wants to. Let him hold your hand in public and call you cutesy pet names when were all hanging out. Let him know that you’re scared because you want this and this is something you never thought you would get. Let yourself be happy and safe in this relationship. Because that man has so much love and tenderness for you that it showed in his eyes when he looked at you even when he was trying to hide it. Even when I was deep in denial that my baby sister was involved with my crotchety grandpa of a friend. I wanted to save you from what Mom had, but Bones is not you dad. And he would never hurt you.” Jim rubbed the side of your arm and smiled. “So let him love you and love him back because he needs this too.” 

Your face twitched, unsure of what expression to display. His eyes were filled with so much warmth and care in that moment that it was overwhelming, so your eyes dropped and fell on the sticker still attached to his thumb. 

“Okay, you big sap.” You peeled the sticker from his thumb and stood up. “I’ll let myself be loved.” You pressed the sticker to his forehead, smoothing your finger across the edges to make sure it stuck and he smiled.

Tags: @abigailredgrave​ @anbrax5553​ @revolutionaryteens​