"Captain," McCoy growled as he feverishly worked over a wounded Spock, "I told you to stay out of the exam room until I called for you!"

"Is that a dragon?"

"Orderly, kindly escort the Captain the hell out of here!" the doctor barked.

"Touch me and you'll end up in the brig!" Kirk countered ominously.

"Jim..." McCoy began in a threatening voice.

"Since when does Spock have a dragon tattooed on his ass?" Kirk continued.

"OUT!" Bones roared.

"And why haven't I noticed it before?" the captain continued as if he hadn't heard a word.

"Getting the bleeding to stop on Spock's injury is hard enough without your puerile comments!" McCoy hissed. "Now, get the hell out of here before he bleeds to death!"

Kirk's head shot up at that. He hadn't realized that Spock's injury was that severe.

"I'll just wait out here," he said meekly.

-

It was three hours later when McCoy finally left the exam room. He was surprised, then not, to see the captain still waiting in the CMO's office, busily catching up on some paperwork.

Kirk's head popped up when he heard McCoy shuffle tiredly into his office.

"How is he, Bones?" Kirk said as he vacated the chair for the doctor.

McCoy sighed. "He'll be fine," he answered. "It was tricky stopping the internal bleeding, but we got it finally."

Kirk kept stealing glances at his friend, wondering when would be an appropriate time to ask his burning questions.

"Oh, for Pete's sake, Jim!" McCoy groused. "Stop giving me those hound-dog looks!"

"Well, spill, then," Kirk countered. "Why does Spock have a tattoo of a dragon on his butt? And why haven't I seen it before?"

McCoy poured himself two fingers of bourbon and reciteded, "It is not a dragon, it is a sha'tarr. It's not on my butt, it's on my coi'a and reaches ni'rch-a yai to my h'ula.'"

Kirk gave McCoy a blank look as if to say, "Huh?"

"It was a sign of defiance for Spock in his troubled youth," the doctor explained. "He had found out that his intended was having second thoughts about their bonding. At the same time he was getting grief from his father for applying to Starfleet Academy."

"So what does this have to do with getting a tattoo?" Kirk puzzled.

"This was Spock's way of saying, 'Bite me!' to everyone that was making his life miserable," McCoy explained.

"Oh."

"Whassa matter?" McCoy asked. "Not dramatic enough for ya?"

Kirk shrugged. "Yeah, I expected more drama, like he was marked as a slave during a mission, or some midshipman knocked him out in the Academy and tattooed him while he was unconscious."

"He'd have to be out for hours," McCoy responded. "And he wouldn't have kept it all these years if he didn't want it." The doctor gave Kirk a long, appraising look. "Jim, I thought you two were ... close. How is it that you have never seen Spock's tattoo?"

Kirk smiled mysteriously and walked toward the door. "Let's just say that he's very good at distracting me. And as soon as he's better, we'll start keeping the lights on!"