"That's okay," Bones told him, stroking his head again. "You won't remember everything, and that's alright. Your mind is protecting you, Jim," Bones tilted his head, looking back at Kirk, frustration written all over the younger man's face. "It's trying to keep the bad stuff away from your conscious self, worried that you can't handle it."

"But we can't leave it there, not when you're in charge of a starship. Can't risk that those bad memories will surface at the wrong moment, when you're off facing some new menace." Bones knew that it would happen again, that they'd meet more enemies, surely as they'd meet allies, and that Kirk would run in head first, like he always did. "You understand why I need to ask you about this? That there's a purpose behind it?"