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Title: Pine Box
Summary: Everyone in their life has either had or known of a terrible loss like that of a child in a divorce. It hurt like nothing else in the world.
A/N: Every time I hear the song "I'd Be Better Off (in a Pine Box)" by Doug Stone, I think of McCoy.
"Hey, friend, maybe you'd best go easy on that bourbon, huh? We want you gettin' home in one piece tonight."
He looked up through bloodshot, bleary eyes, trying to glare but losing momentum halfway through. "I don't want to go home in one piece," he grumbled, surprisingly coherent for someone as drunk as he was. "I don't want to go home at all. S'not home anyway."
The bartender hmmed sympathetically. "Bad business trip?"
The bourbon stung as it went up his nose when he snorted. "Not even close." The ice in the glass clinked noisily as he slammed his drink on the bar. "The bitch left me, and took my baby with her."
"Yeah? What'd she get – the house, the car, the boat?"
Grunt of acknowledgement and – though he'd never admit it – bone-aching sadness. "My daughter."
Eavesdropping patrons winced in sympathy. Everyone in their life has either had or known of a terrible loss like that of a child in a divorce. It hurt like nothing else in the world.
Tears welled in brown eyes that had once been full of kindness, but now only held room for bitterness. "I'd be better off in prison or dead without that girl… She's my whole world, and now I don't even have custody."
"You want to redeem yourself?" It wasn't the bartender that had spoken – an older man set his beer down on the bar next to the half-empty glass of bourbon.
He wasn't in the mood to hear any propositions, and he told the elderly guy as much with a few well-placed swears and a finger. The bartender watched warily, ready to intervene if a fight began. However, he needn't have worried – the older guy simply hoisted Leonard out of his seat and out the door, dunking his head in a barrelful of rainwater.
Sputtering and coughing up water, Leonard McCoy had no choice but to listen to Chris Pike's proposal to enlist in Star Fleet. After all, he had nothing left to lose but his bones.