"Spock, make yourself useful, would you?" McCoy's southern accent becomes a bit thicker when he's stressed, but the Vulcan seems used to it, retreating to retrieve a sanitized chair to place near the side of the bed. It's not the most comfortable chair in the world, but it's better than nothing, perhaps a universal experience shared between hospitals of all sorts of eras.

The doctor adjusts something with the IV, swapping out an emptied container of medication for a full one. "Jim's gonna need all the friends he has," he says gruffly, and he can't resist trying to straighten the captain's hair a little, messy and uncombed, his hands gentle.