Cagamosis - An unhappy marriage.

Leonard McCoy, aged twenty four, was a happy man. He was almost finished with his medical training, he'd already been offered an interview at a highly regarded hospital in Georgia, and he had a beautiful fiancé, Jocelyn.

They'd been living together for almost a year and a half and it was going perfectly.

Whenever he was home from medical school they'd sit on the garden swing together and talk, or they'd decorate the house one room at a time, or they'd go to dinner together and go dancing. Whatever they did, it was perfect because they were together.

Leonard and Jocelyn, Jocelyn and Leonard. His mom didn't paticularly like her, her dad thought they were too young to be engaged and living together. Neither of them cared because they were in love and wanted to be with each other for the rest of their lives. They didn't care what people thought about their arrangement.

They cared about each other, because that's what you do when you're in love.

Jocelyn announcing one morning over breakfast that she was pregnant didn't change anything. They had known that they wanted kids anyway, and all it meant to them was that the wedding would just be a bit earlier than what they'd originally planned. It was going to be perfect.

Leonard McCoy, aged twenty six, was a ragged man. Joanna, his daughter, was two years old, the same age as his marriage. It was so nearly perfect. And then they had the miscarriage. Jocelyn hadn't come out of their room since they'd received the news at six months, meaning that he'd had to look after Joanna and the general upkeeping. He'd taken time off work for a while, before returning with less shifts. He loved his job, but he loved his family more, even if it felt like the two of them against a door. She wouldn't talk to him, or even open the door, meaning he'd slept on the sofa as if they'd had a fight, which he would honestly have preferred at that point.

He hated being a doctor at some points, like when the midwife had told them there was nothing he could have done, and he knew better. When Jo was at nursery, it resulted in him shouting at a closed door, hoping for something else than the horrible sobbing.

No matter how many times that he promised to be there for her, that he cried with her, back against the door, she wouldn't open up, and he somehow felt that it was the end. But Jo was his little girl, and he had to stay strong for her, even if Mommy wasn't. Empty promises and blank stares.

When Jocelyn eventually did come out and let him hold her thin frame to him like a rag doll, he knew that something was broken and knew that even his skilled surgeon's hands couldn't fix this one.

Leonard McCoy, aged twenty eight, was an angry man. Jo was four and had started school, meaning that Leonard could do more shifts in the hospital. Jocelyn hadn't liked that and they spent most of the time that he was around shouting at each other. She felt that he was trting to avpid her. He said she had been avoiding him ever since the baby had died, and she'd thrown his mother's vase at him and hadn't come out of their room for an hour, refusing to speak to him even after that.

It had become harder and harder to get out of bed (or off the sofa) in the morning without a drink, a strong one, and he knew this wasn't helping him in his petition to be a good husband and father. Lying to Jo had started to hurt deep down, more than Jocelyn's harsh comments. Everytime he promised that Mommy and Daddy were happy, he wanted to cry. But he wouldn't do that to Jo. Not to his angel.

So when Jocelyn put her foot down and demanded a divorce, he knew he couldn't keep lying, but he would never give up on Jo.

Even if it meant that the divorce was goig to take a hell load longer because Jocelyn didn't want an alcohol near her daughter. Because even if Leonard had his faults, she had hers too and she was not going to take his baby girl away frim him. He sobered up and started fighting back.

He lost.

Leonard McCoy, aged twenty nine, was a different man. He'd lost everything, as far as he was concerned, and his town was convinced that he was a neglectful alcoholic (though his frequent presence at bars wasn't helping that image).

The flier in his pocket read 'Space: the final frontier' which was very likely for the thousands who died in Space. But hell, he was going. If he couldn't see Jo, he was at least going to be a father she could be proud of. Someday she'd be in a class and her friends would talk about their family and she'd say "My Daddy works in Space. He's a hero."

He didn't realise that four years later she would have the chance to say exactly that.

Well, I haven't been here for a while...

I intend to do lots of character studies based on unusual or cool words. Some may be partially inspired by TOS but no knowledge necessary.

Thanks! :)