It was a gloomy day in San Francisco, and the small group of Enterprise crew members stood out sharply from their dull surroundings. The overcast that perfectly matched their destination, a grey building with a sign out front that read "San Francisco Starfleet Retirement Home" in bold letters. The flowers planted out front seemed to be an effort to make the utilitarian style building more inviting to residents and visitors. It didn't work very well.

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" McCoy asked as they made their way up the path to the main entrance.

"Because," Jim explained, "The higher ups suggested to us -and by that I mean ordered us- to do it. Said it'd be good for public relations or something. Anyways, I think it'll be fun. All the residents served in Starfleet at some point in their lives. Think of all the cool stories they have to tell!"

"Well, I don't see why they couldn't have picked someone besides me." McCoy grumbled. "I wouldn't exactly call myself the friendly, sympathetic type. I'm a doctor, not a Boy Scout!"

Jim snickered."Aww, come on Bones, you're bedside manner's not that bad," he joked. "Besides, it'll only be for a little while. You'll be fine." The doors slid open and they entered the retirement facility.

They were led by a friendly nurse into a rec room where many of the residents were doing various activities. The group split off as everyone left to go talk to the residents, and soon only McCoy was left. He stood there indecisively, contemplating whether or not it would be too late to slip away relatively unnoticed, until he felt something nudge his shoe. He looked down to see a bright blue ball of yarn had rolled near his foot. He picked it up and followed the unraveled end until he came upon the source; an elderly lady knitting what seemed to be a scarf.

He went to hand the yarn back to her, and she looked up at him with a smile. "Thank you, young man," she said. "Would you actually mind holding that for a few minutes? I'm nearly finished."

"Uh, sure," McCoy said, pulling over a vacant chair from a nearby table and awkwardly taking a seat.

"You know," she said as she worked, "You look just like my Andrew. He's such a dear. It's been a while since I've seen him though, nearly four years now. I understand though, everyone's just so busy nowadays, you never get any time for yourself, it seems." She paused, and McCoy was spared from trying to come up with some sort of response when she quickly continued. " I'm sorry, where are my manners. I'm Carrie Michaels, it's nice to meet you."

"Doctor Leonard McCoy, ma'am."

"A doctor, did you say? Why, back in my day, I was a nurse on the USS Ardent."

McCoy sat up a bit straighter. "Really?"

"Why, you wouldn't believe some of the things I've seen. In fact, the strangest thing that I've ever experience happened on our way to Andoria. You see..."

A scarf turned into the sleeve of a sweater without McCoy realizing it. He only noticed how much time had gone by when Jim had come to collect him, and he looked out the window to see that the sun had begun to start making its decent into the horizon.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Jim asked as they left the building, a knowing grin on his face.

Bones didn't give him the satisfaction of an answer.