On a bustling street in the business district of Risa, a man stood outside a jewelry store, staring at the box in his hand. He knew he needed to go in and be done with it, let go of the past and walk out with the credits he knew the item in the velvet box would bring, but he kept thinking of how much the sapphire reminded him of her eyes-those unearthly, brilliant, blue eyes that still haunted him even after eight years.
The fifth time he stopped short of walking through the door, a woman's voice spoke from nearby.
"Getting cold feet?" She asked sympathetically. "A man pacing in front of a jewelry store is a pretty serious tell."
He froze and slowly turned around to face the woman sitting on the bench beside shopping bags-a woman who just happened to be his former Captain, former best friend, former everything.
"I'm here to sell, not buy," Leonard McCoy said in as even a tone as he could, while his heart leaped and hand shook at the sight of her.
When they made eye contact, the woman gasped and her hand flew to her mouth in surprise.
"B-bones? What are you doing on Risa? I thought you were earth bound?"
The subtle edge to the last words made him wince.
"Good to see you again, Captain," he said politely as he battled with the turmoil she'd stirred up inadvertently. Things had gone great until he found he couldn't be in two places at once and neither could she. So, he'd chosen earth because Jo needed a parent in her life. He and Jem hadn't parted on the best of terms and who knew what she thought of him now?
"I'm here treatin' myself to a vacation. I'm an empty nester now that Jo's off to college."
"I see," Jem Kirk said, looking a little uneasy herself. Then she recovered with a witty comeback.
"Are you selling off the family jewels to pay for the tuition?" She asked, a hint of the old mischief in her tone.
Leonard couldn't help but grin, even as he shoved the box deep into his pocket. No way was he going to risk her seeing the ring and asking questions, opening up old wounds in the process. He'd made his choice and she'd made hers. There was no going back.
"Nope, just somethin' I bought impulsively awhile ago and should've got rid of years ago." He hastened to change the subject.
"How are ya doin', Jem? I see you survived the second mission surprisingly intact."
He allowed teasing surprise to show in his voice and Jem smiled at him, shaking her head in amusement at his typical skepticism. She hadn't aged much, he noticed, but there were lines around her eyes and mouth he didn't remember.
"Oh, ye of little faith, Bones," she said dryly. "There were plenty of close calls that would've turned your hair white. I see it's only moderately grey. Looks very distinguished."
"Earth might not be as treacherous as space, but Jo sure did her best to age me the last few years," he admitted. "Teenagers." He shuddered and Jem laughed briefly.
"Was it worth it, Bones?" She asked abruptly, a touch of angst in her voice that had him once again regretting how badly things had ended.
"Overall, yes," he said honestly. "But don't think I didn't miss you or regret how we ended it. It was one of those things: life happened. Who knew Jocelyn would run off to Belize with Clay and relinquish all rights to Jo?"
Jem nodded, picking at the head of the snazzy blouse she was wearing.
"I knew you did the right thing, Bones. I shouldn't have said those awful things to you. Spock pointed out how illogical it was to accuse you of abandoning me when I would have made you abandon Jo. Of all people, I should have understood how important it was for her to have her dad with her."
"I could have tried harder for a compromise, maybe brought her on the ship, but the Krall mess was so fresh in my mind, I couldn't stomach the idea."
"Why didn't you try harder to persuade me not to take the second five year mission?" Jem asked. "I might have stayed."
"Yeah, but you wouldn't have been happy for long on the ground. I could see your heart was still in the stars and I realized I couldn't take that from you, much as it killed me to leave you."
"It was so…...weird and…...quiet without you," she told him. "Dr. M'Benga was great, but he's not you. I missed your vicious hypos and your continued grumbling and arguing with Spock. No one ever chewed me out for being reckless or called me an insufferable infant."
Leonard snorted. "Those were the days," he recalled fondly, looking back at their three years in space together. After a moment he ventured to broach another question.
"You headed back out for a third five-year mission?"
"I don't know yet," Jem admitted. "My zest for it isn't what it was. The Enterprise will likely get another, but Sulu is more than ready for command. I've reached the point where I'm okay staying closer to home. There's only so many alien dungeons one can wind up in before it gets old. What about you? Still set on staying planet bound?"
"For now," Leonard answered. "But if a certain captain were to find herself in need of a CMO again, well, I might be persuaded."
He slipped her his new comm number with a wink. His itch for adventure had never been huge, but it was revived just being in her presence.
Jem's eyes softened and she leaned in for a hug, both of them sighing a little at the contact which had once been as natural as breathing.
"I'll be sure to take you up on that, Bones. You want to come get a bite to eat and swap stories with me? There's a great Bajoran place just down the street."
"Sounds good," Leonard said, standing up and offering her a hand. "Lead on, Captain."
Jem grabbed his arm and steered him along happily.
"Thank you, Bones. There's no way I'm gonna let you walk away without some proper catching up."
Leonard grinned and followed her, feeling hopeful that their friendship could be salvaged out of the wreck they'd made of a relationship.
He sure wouldn't let eight years of silence happen again, either way.
In the end, he never ended up selling the sapphire and Jem flaunted it about on her ring finger a Year and a half later.
"Thank goodness I ran into you before you got rid of it, Bones," she'd say while snuggling. "It's so perfect!"
"Hmm, not as perfect as you, darlin'." Leonard told her fondly.