Title: The Greater Good
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Kirk/McCoy, Sulu/Chekov, Spock/Uhura
Word Count: 29,020
Warnings: sex, angst (specifically in the context of depression and PTSD), medical and military stuff that should be read with suspended disbelief, lab rats (including non-graphic description of humane euthanasia), underage drinking (though Chekov argues that he's legal in Russia), and minor character (OC and canon) deaths
Summary: Doctor Leonard McCoy thinks he's getting by, working as both a surgeon and a researcher at UCSF Medical Center. A chance encounter with Lieutenant Jim Kirk - who's changed since they first met five years before, and not for the better - forces Leonard to face reality about his own situation while trying to keep Jim from heading down the same path.

Author's Notes: Thanks to blcwriter for all the hand-holding and coaxing, caitri for resorting to bribery to see this thing finished (I haven't forgotten!), flyingmachine for beta reading, and all the people who commented on the snippet I posted at the end of December (especially wolf_naked for leaving the original prompt this was inspired by even if I don't actually follow it), and the au_bigbang challenge for forcing me to finish this fic instead of letting it hang around on my hard-drive for an untold amount of time.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

Accompanying art for the story (including the city headers seen in the story) was done by thereshedances, so make sure to check it out here!



( The Greater Good, the Mix )