Disclaimer:I do not own Star Trek and the song belongs to Theory of a Deadman.
The door to the living room slid open and the doctor entered holding an envelope. A little girl dropped the toy she was playing with and ran to him. "Daddy! You're home!" She giggled.
Her father scooped her up and gave her a kiss on the cheek, his stubble rubbing her face. "Hey, Darlin'." He drawled in his southern accent. "How are you?"
"I'm good." He set her back down on the floor and kneeled in front of her.
"That's great. Where's your momma?"
"She's in the kitchen."
"Okay, Jo. I need you to do me a favor. Your mother and I need to have a talk, so could you go play upstairs for a little while please?" The little girl nodded, making her brown hair bounce around her face. Her father couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Sweetie. I love you."
He waited until she disappeared up the steps then went into the kitchen where Jocelyn was sitting at the table.
The doctor tossed the envelope onto the table in front of her. "What the hell is this?" He said it quietly but his voice was filled with anger.
The woman stared at the envelope for a moment, recognizing what it was. She stood up and faced him. "They're divorce papers, Leonard."
"I know what they are. Why in God's name did you send them to my office? No warning at all! You couldn't even have discussed this with me first?" He was trying to keep his voice down but it was beginning to grow louder.
"No! I couldn't! How do you expect me to discuss it with you when you're never home? You spend all your time at work. And when I do see you, we fight. I'm tired of it. It's over!"
Leonard just stared at his wife. She was right. He was barely home anymore now that he got this new job. But he had asked her before he accepted it if she could handle his busy work schedule and she had even encouraged him to take the job. The whole reason he worked so much was to support her and their daughter. "You know what?
"Maybe you're right. Maybe it's not meant to be. But hell at least I tried, dammit." His voiced cracked "Is that not enough?"
Jocelyn stared back at him without sympathy. There was no love reflected in her eyes for the man she had vowed to be with for the rest of her life.
"I'm sorry my career has gotten in the way of our relationship. And I'm sorry I'm not home much. But I'm trying. I'm trying to make money to support you and Joanna. To make your lives better."
"Stop it Leonard! I don't want any more excuses. Just face it! We're not the people we were when we got married. We don't love each other anymore."
Leonard felt her words stab into his chest and rip open his heart. He bit his lip as he tried to hold back the tears stinging his eyes and his breath became ragged. He found his voice and said, "Speak for yourself." He took a deep breath and stood up straighter.
"How can you think I don't love you anymore? Everyday, I call you to tell you how much I love you and I mean it. Everyday, getting home to see you is all I care about. But that's not good enough for you, is it? You'd rather just give up instead of trying to fix it."
"It's too late to fix it."
He shook his head. She won't even try. "Fine. You've made up your mind and I can't change it. You want a divorce? You got it." Leonard grabbed the envelope off the table and stormed out.
