4 years later
Leonard was getting ready to go to the med bay and start his shift when he received a message on his PADD. He figured it was just a message from Kirk. What he opened it, he found that it was something much worse. It read:
Dear Mr. McCoy,
We regret to inform you that Hannah Knight has now been missing for two years and is presumed dead. She was last seen in Guge, Tibet, and failed to arrive at her next planned stop. She has had no communication with any of her friends or family since she went missing. A thorough search of Guge and surrounding areas was conducted, but Miss Knight was never found.
Deepest Regards,
The Department of Missing Persons
Leonard sat down on his bed slowly, in shock. He would never get to see Hannah again. Sweet, beautiful Hannah, with her long brown hair and her wit that matched Leonard's perfectly. She balanced him out completely. He searched on his PADD for the last message she had sent him. He found it and read it over and over again:
Dear Leo,
I'm having loads of fun traveling! I'm sure it's much more exciting than whatever you're doing at Starfleet. (Just kidding) I was just in India and saw the Taj Mahal. I thought it was beautiful, but I'm sure you would have been bored out of your mind. Right now, I'm headed to Tibet. I think I might climb Mt. Everest, just to say I've done it. Don't get worried if I don't message you for a while, I'll be very busy, not to mention I have terrible connection over here.
I miss you with all my heart,
Hannah
He reached for a bottle of whiskey and began to drink. He needed to numb the pain, even if it was only for a little while. He succeeded, but coincidentally also forgot about his shift at the med bay.
Eventually Jim found him, clutching his second bottle of whiskey and scrolling through pictures of Hannah on his PADD.
"What happened?" asked Jim, sitting on the bed next to Bones.
Leonard took a long swig of whiskey before mumbling, "Best friend died."
"Oh," Jim said awkwardly. He never quite knew what to do in these situations.
"You would have liked her," Leonard continued, smiling. "You would have tried to sleep with her."
Jim laughed at that.
"I loved her you know," Leonard said suddenly. "I never got to tell her."
Jim raised his eyebrows. This was interesting. "I had the senior command officer take over your shift. You don't have to come in tomorrow if you don't want to. I'll make up an excuse for you."
"Thanks," mumbled Leonard. Jim patted his back before leaving him with only his thoughts for company.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I keep coming up with new story ideas and this happens to be one of the lucky ones that got written. Just to clear a few things up: I know that normally a missing person has to be missing for 7 years to be considered dead, but I figured that in the future they would have better technology to help find people, so they would be presumed dead faster if they can't be found. Another thing: this chapter is set after the Nero incident but before Into Darkness.