Jenny opened her eyes, blinking leisurely in the dark and brushing a few strands of tousled hair from her face. Her dream was fading fast, gone before she had a chance to hang on to it, but at least she was sure that it hadn't been a nightmare. And surprisingly, for the first time in quite a while, she actually felt rested. Or maybe not so surprisingly at all. She'd wanted the truth, she'd got the truth, albeit a rather devastating one. But at least it had put an end to all the guessing, the uncertainty. Everything was better than not knowing what was happening to her and why, even though the answers she'd longed for seemed to be raising even more questions.

Leonard's warm hand was resting protectively on her hip, and, sighing contentedly, she carefully turned towards him, sensing the soft expression on his face rather than making it out, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Tenderly regarding the doctor's face, as he puffed out gentle snores, obviously exhausted but seeming content to be lying next to her, her initial feeling of guilt over having pushed him away and kept him from his own bed last evening gradually gave way to grateful love so intense, it brought tears to her eyes.

All of a sudden, what had seemed so overwhelming and scary yesterday, didn't seem all that daunting anymore. True, she might not be who she'd thought she was. But Leonard had been right. If she stopped to think about it, she didn't really feel any different at all. No different from the way she had ever since waking up in this century. Or even only just a day ago. The only difference was that she knew the truth about herself now. But other than that, she still felt exactly the same. Real, solid, human in every way.

Whatever had happened to her, whoever she'd been before, fact was that she'd suddenly found herself in the 23rd century with no choice but to start over. She'd been forced to build a completely new life for herself, and, thankfully, it had turned out wonderful. Despite having had to catch up on a few hundred years, she'd achieved good qualifications, had already made a name for herself in her chosen field of linguistics, and her Starfleet career was progressing nicely, too. She'd even been cleared for starship duty despite her shortcomings.

And as for her private life, that simply couldn't be any better. She'd made wonderful friends in this century, found a new home on the Enterprise, and, most amazingly by far, she'd found love. True, unconditional love. The kind she'd always thought existed only in books and movies. Until Leonard had shown her that it could happen in real life, too. Proving it to her in a million ways, day after day.

She might not yet remember much about her 'other' life, assuming the memories she was only just regaining were hers – Jenny still wasn't clear about that. But she was absolutely sure that neither she nor her alter ego had ever been happier than she was now with this precious gem of a man by her side.

Just as she was about to wipe a few emotional tears from her face, strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her into the warmest hug.

"How're you feeling, love?" Leonard murmured in her ear, his voice deep and gravelly from sleep, and she felt a thrill, realising how lucky she was to get to hear him like this.

"Hungry," was the first thing that came to mind, and it was true.

The doctor's chest rumbled with a chuckle in response, as he craned his neck to look at the time.

"It's the middle of the night," he laughed, nuzzling her hair and ordering the lights on. "But how about those sandwiches now?"

Jenny nodded eagerly, lifting her head to look into Leonard's eyes, which were still a little unfocused from only just having woken up, and immediately lost herself in their softness and warmth, revealing his joy at finding her feeling better again.

"You look well-rested, love," Leonard smiled, tenderly running his fingers through her hair.

"I am," she confirmed, beaming at him, then softly added, "But only because someone kindly decided to come to bed and hold me through all my strange dreams, even though I turned him away earlier tonight."

"I couldn't have stayed away any longer," the doctor sighed, gently cupping her cheeks in his hands and gazing deep into her eyes.

"I'm sorry I made you," Jenny whispered, guiltily burying her face in his neck.

"Don't be," Leonard murmured, tenderly ruffling her hair. "You needed space. That's perfectly normal in your situation. You have to find your own way of dealing with this. I'll support whatever you feel is right for you."

"Thank you," she breathed, her heart brimming over at his infinite kindness and understanding. "You know, sometimes I really think you have a better idea of what I need than I do!"

"Oh, I don't know about that," the doctor chuckled, clasping her tightly to him, "but I do know that you need tons of hugs and tender touch, and I happen to have loads to give."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Releasing her from his embrace when she started to giggle and wheeze exaggeratedly, McCoy sat up and grudgingly swung his legs out of bed. He felt like he'd only just fallen asleep, but finding Hope so chipper, he saw his chance to talk to her about Section 31.

While Hope busied herself making coffee, the doctor took all the ingredients he needed from the small stasis unit and set about fixing the promised sandwiches. He'd never bothered with food in his quarters in the past, always eating in the mess or, if there was no time, making do with a little snack in his office. But ever since Hope had moved in, he'd taken to keeping a small stash of supplies just in case. With her poor eating habits, he wanted to be able to feed her whenever he got the chance. Like right now, in the middle of the night.

Fondly shaking his head, he reached out for her and roped her into his arms until she was flush against him, smiling up at him with a questioning gaze.

Talk about having one's life turned upside down, he thought affectionately.

Hope was certainly not the only one. His life had been turned upside down the moment he'd laid eyes on her, and he'd loved every minute since.

"How can you still love me just the same after finding out I'm not ... me?" she asked softly, looking him straight in the eye.

"How could I not?" he countered, his heart clenching at the question. "Besides, to me you are still you! Amazing, wonderful you. Whoever you might or might not have been before, you're still exactly the same woman I met and fell in love with. And contrary to your belief that you're suddenly only half a person, or lacking in something, or whatever it feels like for you, I can only keep assuring you that you are as complete, as whole, as real as anyone could possibly be. And I know that for a fact, as your doctor and as your friend."

Hope wasn't really questioning his love, they both knew that. But right now, she needed to hear all those reassurances over and over again, and, of course, he was more than happy to oblige.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to sound like a broken record," she apologised sheepishly, and McCoy filed the curious expression away to follow up later, used to her employing the strangest metaphors by now, "but those same questions are going to bother me for a while longer, I fear."

"I know, love", he replied gently, tightening his arms around her and kissing the tip of her nose. "And anything else would really have me worried, believe me. But you'll always have me to talk to and reassure you. And I'll certainly never stop reminding you how wonderful you are, and how much I love you."

The doctor turned back to his sandwiches, and Hope took their coffees over to the couch, curling up comfortably and wrapping herself in her favourite fleecy robe, a far too big, fluffy cloud of little stars and planets. It had originally been his, a present from Joanna when she was still a little girl, but Hope had more or less appropriated it for herself and, admittedly, looked adorable in it.

"So, you're feeling more like yourself again," McCoy said lightly, setting down the plates on the coffee table and collapsing onto the couch next to her. "It's good to see the colour back in your cheeks, and the light back in your eyes!"

Hope's gaze drifted off into the distance for a moment, and he was almost afraid he'd said something wrong, but then her lips curled into a smile, and she looked up at him with the warmest expression on her face.

"Actually, I'm feeling terrific," she beamed at him, "because I realised that all these weird … accidents turned out to be the best thing that could ever have happened to me."

"Oh? How's that?" the doctor asked, smiling at her sudden euphoria, even as he mentally prepared himself for the next kick in the teeth, aware that mood swings were typical of the post-traumatic recovery process and setbacks were inevitable.

"Because they brought me to you," she explained solemnly, snuggling against him. "To find love I never even knew existed before I met you. If there's any reason for what I went through, any sense in what happened to me at all, it was for you and me to meet."

"I'm awfully sorry for everything you had to go through, love," he replied softly, ignoring the lump in his throat. "And I'm heartbroken over the fact that I wasn't there when you needed me most. But I confess I'm also eternally grateful to fate for bringing you to me. I'd given up on love long before you even arrived in this century, and I certainly never expected to be so blissfully happy one day."

"Me neither," Hope mumbled contentedly into his chest. "And I'll try to keep that in mind when I'm tempted to bemoan my fate the next time I'm faced with new memories – or truths."

"And I'll be there to help you through them all," McCoy promised, choking up a little and hoping she wouldn't notice. "You'll never have to face anything on your own again."

They didn't move or talk for a couple of minutes, just holding each other and revelling in the warmth and tenderness between them, until Hope finally pulled away, sitting up straight to take a sip of her coffee.

"We wouldn't want to let those delicious sandwiches go to waste, now, would we?" she smiled, batting her eyelashes at him. "Handmade by the ship's CMO, no less!"

"We certainly wouldn't want that!" he agreed, raising a mock-appalled eyebrow and smiling widely before taking a huge bite from his sandwich at the same time she did.

His heart filled with joy at seeing her cheerful self shining through again, if only just temporarily. This was too big for even her to bounce back from right away. They still had a long way to go. But Hope wouldn't be Hope, if she weren't fighting to recover her equilibrium as quickly as possible. Positivity was her driving force. Being happy and, above all, spreading happiness were second nature to her, and one of the reasons why he loved and admired her so much.

And sure enough, the doctor felt a tremendous wave of happiness surge through him, just watching her tuck into her sandwich with gusto. Like so often before, the sheer intensity of the tenderness he felt for this woman took his breath away. And he wanted to hold on to the feeling forever. It was pure magic. Hope was.

A few breadcrumbs had got caught in her hair, and McCoy reached out to flick them away, letting his hand linger a moment to caress her face and enjoy the way she instantly leaned into his touch. Like she always did, he thought fondly. And just like she'd already instinctively done during her very first physical, capturing his heart from the word go.

When he dropped his hand back to his knee, Hope covered it with hers, softly running her thumb across his knuckles and gazing at his fingers for the longest time, completely lost in thought.

"What's on your mind, love?" he asked after a while, gently squeezing her fingers to get her attention. "Anything you'd like to share?"

"Oh, I was just thinking how much I love your hands," she smiled, her eyes still glued to his fingers. "Your beautiful, comforting, healing hands. So strong and steady, so soft and gentle. So tender, so skilled, so giving."

The doctor listened, mesmerised, looking at his hands and trying to see them through her eyes. Only Hope would come up with something like this, of course, but knowing how she thrived on touch, it wasn't actually that surprising, and immediately filled him with a strong desire to put them to good use and give her all the comfort and tender love she craved.

-x-x-x-x-x-

When Jenny finally tore her eyes away from Leonard's hands, she caught him gazing at her with this mixture of tender adoration and poorly disguised worry, that immediately told her he wanted to discuss something and didn't know how to broach the subject.

"What is it, Leonard?" she asked, leaning in for a kiss. "What are you so desperate to tell me?"

He tried to look surprised for a moment, but quickly decided that there was no use pretending. She knew him too well.

"Nothing gets by you, does it?" he chuckled, pressing a gentle kiss on her lips,

"Go on, then!" Jenny smiled encouragingly. "I've just had a delicious sandwich, and there's still coffee in my cup. If you're going to hit me with yet more disturbing news, I'm ready as I'll ever be!"

"No more 'news', love," the doctor was quick to assure her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you again. But there's something else we need to address. Section 31. I'm not sure you realise how important it is that we keep your newly found memories between us."

Ah, that.

"Don't worry," she gave him a reassuring look, "I'm aware that Section 31 wouldn't be happy for me to draw attention to them or the way they 'handle' things."

Leonard didn't seem satisfied with her reaction. Leaning forward, he gripped both of her shoulders and brought his face close to hers, his gaze as serious and intent as she'd ever seen him.

"Listen Jenny," he said imploringly, "this is important! You mustn't talk about those memories to anyone. Do you understand? Not to Nyota, not to Pavel, or Christine or Scotty. No one other than Jim, Spock and myself. Talk to me as much and as often as you want to. Or need to. Share every little detail of every new memory with me. I'll love it! Talk to Jim and Spock anytime. Hell, meld with Spock, if it helps, but don't involve anyone else. I'm afraid you'll also have to do with me as your therapist in this."

Jenny looked at him mildly, incredibly touched by his concern and fierce protectiveness that never failed to bring home just how deep and unswerving his love was.

"I know you think I'm exaggerating because I'm and old worrywart," the doctor went on with a sigh, sitting back and running a distracted hand through his hair. "And because you want to be carefree again after all this time. It's perfectly understandable, and I really wish you could. Nothing would make me happier. But please, love, please believe me that this is serious. Please don't take it lightly. Promise me!"

"Are you done now?" Jenny asked softly, resting her hands reassuringly on his arms. "Of course, I promise, Leonard! I may be inclined to see opportunities where you see danger, but I'm not stupid. I heard what you said, and I get it. I wish I could take all your worries away, and I hate that I cause so many of them in the first place, but my being careless in this matter is one concern you don't need to have. And for the record, I might not always share your fears, but I always, always take them seriously."

She shuffled a little closer and took his face between her hands, wanting him to see the sincerity in her eyes.

"And right now, seeing you so tense and beside yourself with worry for me, I don't think I've ever loved you more."

The words, meant to soothe and reassure Leonard, were barely out, when Jenny broke down in his arms, her own emotions finally getting the better of her. Clinging to him like to a lifeline as he caught her, grateful to feel his strong, loving arms closing tightly around her, she couldn't stop the big, heavy tears from falling, that were suddenly flooding her eyes.

It wasn't fear, that finally made her crumble, or sadness, or even anger. She simply felt overwhelmed. Not just by the events and emotions of the past 24 hours. But also by those of the days before. Weeks, even, if she counted all those broken nights with their recurring nightmares. Overwhelmed as much by having her life, her whole existence, called into question, as by all the incredible love, support, and kindness she'd been experiencing.

Leonard's arms were wrapped tightly around her, his whole body enfolding her, sheltering her, and she could feel him shaking. Was he crying, too? Or was that just her, shaking with long, racking sobs? She couldn't tell, and it didn't matter. They were one. Her tears were his tears. His fears were her fears. It felt as if they were melting into each other. Not a mind meld, but an emotional one. Never before had she felt so close to anyone. So connected. So whole. So loved.

Epilogue

"The captain and I might have found a way to take Lt. Hope back to the past and reintegrate her. I have discovered an anomaly in the time-space continuum, headed for Earth right now, that should help us accomplish that. However, the opportunity will not present itself again within the next 20 years, and given that …"

"What he means to say, Bones, is that this might be our only chance for a long time to do this. I'm sorry, I know it's very soon, but before we investigate the possibility any further and include Scotty, because we can't do it without him, we need to know if she, if you, would even want us to go ahead."

"As you know, Doctor, the situation is in no way comparable to the captain's predicament after beaming back from planet Alpha 177.* Quite obviously, there is no immediate danger for Hope. She is a complete and healthy person, not missing half of her qualities, half of her personality. But the approach we've come up with to reintegrate her would be similar. Anyway, the decision would have to be made within the next 48 hours, since the anomaly will only be there for a very limited period. And allowing for the time needed to get Hope to Earth …"

"Yeah, yeah, Spock, I get it, it's urgent. Give me a minute to get my head around this, and I'll go talk to her right away."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Visions of dead little canines on transporter platforms* and lonely old country doctors danced before McCoy's eyes, as he blindly made his way through the corridors, unable to even imagine life without Hope anymore.

Life without hope, indeed!

He was only human! How was he supposed to talk to her about this without bias? Advise her on doing something that was possibly dangerous and definitely breaking his heart, yet might prove equally unsafe for her not to do?

When the doctor entered his quarters, still clueless as to the best way of addressing the matter, yet determined to get it over with quickly, he found the lights set to low and Hope already in bed. She had her eyes closed, lips slightly apart, and he thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful.

His whole life, everything he could ever need or want, was lying right there in front of him, and his heart didn't know whether to melt or break as he quietly sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Jenny? Love?" he whispered, but the only answer he got was a soft grunt and a tiny hint of a smile as she turned her face a little towards him.

She had returned with a landing party from a high-gravity planet only a couple of hours ago, and they'd all come back pretty bushed. McCoy silently changed out of his uniform and slid into bed, smiling when Hope opened a sleepy eye and gave his arm a little nudge, demanding he raise it for her to nestle into.

"I'm knackered," she mumbled drowsily into the crook of his neck, snuggling comfortably against him. "The gravity down there was really something else."

"Nothing that a good night's sleep and a cuddle won't cure," the doctor chucked, tenderly stroking her hair.

"Was there anything you wanted to talk about?"

"Shhh … That can wait until tomorrow. Just go back to sleep and let me hold you."

"Mmmmmh! My favourite place in the whole world. Promise you'll always be there!"


*) Reference to the TOS episode "The Enemy Within"

A/N:

Thank you so much for sticking with me – or rather with Hope and McCoy – to the end! 🙏

Although, if you know me at all by now, you'll know that this is most definitely not the end. Their journey has only just begun, hasn't it? 😉

Meaning there will be another part starting shortly. Angst and fluff guaranteed! I'll just need a little time to sort through all the bits and pieces and put them into chronological order. 😅

So, if you've grown as fond of Jenny and Leonard as I have, and want to know what further "adventures" fate has in store for them, keep an eye out for the sequel! If you follow me as an author, you should be notified when the first chapter of the next part is out.

Thanks again for your loyalty and all your lovely reviews that mean the world to me! ❤️

Stay safe, take care, see you again soon! 😘