Somebody got up to read a poem. Somebody else told an anecdote. Sometimes the words brought laughter, sometimes tears. Chekov sat perfectly still staring straight ahead. For him they brought neither, he felt cold numb, alone. As the words spiralled around him, he couldn't stop remembering Kelly. She couldn't be dead. She couldn't have died. He wouldn't allow himself to believe it, but he kept seeing her in his mind as she had been when he last saw her, pale frightened. He saw his hands covered in blood, her blood. As the image came to him again he shut his eyes tightly and a sound escaped his lips. Had he said her name or was it just a voiceless cry?

He opened his eyes as he felt a change in the crowd. Kirk was walking onto stage. He began to read the list of names of the people who had died. The words were heavy and seemed to hold more sadness as the Captain read each name out in a voice that was thick with held back emotions. As each name was read a picture flashed onto the view screen, and the sound of people crying filled the room. The last name to be read was Kelly's. On the view screen, a picture appeared; in it Kelly was smiling, happy, her face slightly mischievous.

It wasn't as Chekov remembered her, pale, afraid, dying.

As the picture remained on the screen, the sobbing grew louder than before. People were holding one another. Chekov felt somebody pat him gently on the shoulder, but didn't turn to see who it was. He waited until he felt the slight presence move. He was fine he didn't need to be comforted. Chekov let the cries wash over him and tried to ignore the sounds. He had closed his eyes against the sight of people's faces twisted in grief and was slowly letting his awareness of where he was drift away.

Then a shriek that sounded like somebody was being tortured rent the air. Chekov's eyes snapped open as he automatically scanned the crowd for the source of the sound.

"Oh my god, Kelly!" A blond haired girl yelled. She was standing up and repeatedly saying "oh my god, why did she die?" Chekov recognized her as Ensign Tanner, who had been one of Kelly's friends. He watched as three girls tried to calm her, but she refused to be comforted.

"Why did she die? She was so young." Tanner wailed then threw herself on the ground.

The other girls tried futilely to soothe her. "Why didn't somebody save her?" Tanner screamed apparently oblivious to the others attempts to quiet her. Chekov felt her words cut into him. Tanner continued to wail until somebody that was dressed in a medical uniform got up, grabbed the girl by the arm and led her out of the auditorium. Her screams and wails could be heard growing fainter in the distance, until the doors slid shut drowning out the noise.

As the door closed the sound of others crying intensified like Tanner's response had given the other crew permission to express their emotions. To Chekov Captain Kirk appeared disturbed by the response but he watched as the young captain quickly concealed his own emotions. The service was delayed for several moments until the cries had slowed down somewhat then Kirk finished the rest of the memorial service.

As the program finished, the crew milled around the auditorium, talking, eating, and consoling one another. Kirk after speaking to the crew and mingling for a few minutes had departed. Chekov, hung back at the periphery of the room, unnoticed by anybody. He stared at the people gathered there. How could this be it? They had a service, and then everybody who died was just forgotten. He couldn't do that; he couldn't accept that Kelly was dead.

He glanced up as he heard a half-familiar laugh. He searched the crowd for the source of the noise; he finally found it. It was a girl; she was standing talking animatedly to a group of people as her brown ponytail bounced behind her. She looked like Kelly. But it couldn't be could it?

He moved through the crowd shouldering people out the way. As he stared at her, she started to walk away. "Kelly?" he called out pushing people out the way now, words of protest rose in his wake. "Kelly?" he shouted, as the girl didn't turn.

He was running now, the crowd of people around him quieted. "Kelly" he yelled again at the same time, he reached out and spun the girl around. "Kelly, I-"he stopped looking the girl in the face, she looked nothing like Kelly now that he was close up. The only thing they had in common was brown hair and a ponytail.

The girl looked up at him confusedly. "My name's Ensign Lara, not Kelly" She paused then said "and could you take your hand of my shoulder?"

Chekov removed his hand allowing it to fall limply to his side. The girl moved away. Her friends leaned in closer, and one of them said "Kelly, he thought you were Kelly?"

The other said "that's the girl who died. Has he lost it!"

"I think he was the one that was with her when she died" he heard Ensign Lara reply quietly glancing back at him briefly. Her face held a pitying look, before she turned away.

Chekov stared after them, watching as the girls were swallowed up in the crowd. Chekov felt people staring at him; it was very quiet in the auditorium. Somebody put a hand on his shoulder. "You're that kid from the bridge, Chekov right? Its okay –"

He shrugged the hand off, not even looking at who had spoken "I'm fine" he said "I'm fine" he repeated as he walked toward the doors, ignoring the stares and whispers around him. "I'm fine" he whispered as the door's shut behind him, but he was far from fine.

XXXX XXXX

Two days later

They were about to enter a Nebula, it was the most direct route, but the nebula was pitted with hazardous black hole's and other anomalies were littering the space. Still it was the best option unless they wanted to spend an additional six days to navigate around it, as opposed to the few hours it would take to get through it.

The entire bridge was preparing for the journey. Spock was carefully scanning the area ahead and trying to develop a rudimentary layout of the anomalies. Scotty was double –checking the engines. Sulu and Chekov were carefully plotting an initial course and having a quiet discussion about which route to take.

Uhura, who at the moment didn't really have much to do at the moment, was collecting status reports from all the ship's departments. She was doing her best to concentrate intensely. It was several days since they had left T'karis but she was still plagued by the memories of what had happened on the planet. She logged a report from auxiliary sickbay and pressed the key that would transmit it to the Captain. Belatedly she realised she had accidentally routed it to Spock. She quickly fixed her error, but she knew Spock had noticed. He glanced at her slightly his eyes concerned but she quickly turned around unable to bear his gaze. His features sent a shiver of fear through her.

She pushed down the emotion and focused on her work, but she couldn't stop remembering the hurt expression that had flitted across Spock's face at her actions. She frowned at the thought and then noticed a light lit up on her board. A star base was calling them. She quickly opened the channel and after a brief conversation with the caller said. "Captain I'm getting a request from an Admiral. He wishes to speak to you in private."

Kirk was surprised. He had just spoken to a commodore Willis, merely two hours ago and when he had signed off the man had told him that Starfleet was keeping subspace communication to a minimum so the channels wouldn't be severely crowded, due to the interference from the ion storms near Earth. The commodore had also reiterated to not send any of the information they had discovered about the Romulans through subspace channels because they weren't taking chances about the information being discovered by anybody but Starfleet. Kirk wondered was the admiral calling to say they had changed their mind and wished to have the information transmitted immediately.

"I'll take it the briefing room" Kirk said nodding at Uhura.

Uhura acknowledged Kirk's request and transferred the call.

When Kirk got to the ready room, he found an older man staring out at him from the view screen. He recognized admiral Komack. "Admiral Komack, what can I do for you?"

Admiral Komack was straight to the point not bothering with even the most brief of pleasantries which made Kirk take even more note of what he was about to said. "Kirk there's a man holding a group of approximately twenty-five hostages, including a Rigellian ambassador's son. The man is threatening to kill the hostages if his demand isn't met within the next hour."

Kirk had a feeling the demand had something to do with him or his ship and crew. However he couldn't see how his crew and ship, with its crippled engines, would be able to help when it was light-years away from the situation. Kirk began "Admiral Komack, I'll offer any assistance possible, but the Enterprise—"

Komack cut in "Kirk it's not your ship or you that I need. It's one of your crew." He continued "This man" and a picture of a man with brown eyes and hair and a worn face appeared on the screen, next to Komack's image.

The face was vaguely familiar in an odd way. For some reason Kirk remembered seeing somebody very similar recently. Admiral Komack continued "is Jonathan Kelly, Ensign Kelly's father. He was notified of her death and apparently he didn't take the news very well. He's been hounding Star fleet for days to find out exactly how she died" The admiral sighed and added."Today he kidnapped the hostages and said unless he could speak with the person who was with her when she died he was going to kill them. He believes Starfleet won't tell him the circumstances of her death because there was a conspiracy. We tried talking to him but he won't listen to us now."

Kirk realised who the man wanted to speak with. Admiral Komack continued "We don't usually cooperate in this sort of thing but the circumstances are a little different. His wife died years ago. He only had one child and he was estranged from her. Apparently he thought of it as betrayal when she left home and joined Starfleet. Your navigator is the only person that can resolve this situation peacefully."

What admiral Komack had said made sense, but Kirk couldn't stop thinking about what he was going to have to ask Chekov to do. He said "I can't ask that kid to talk to somebody about how his girlfriend died and have him recount to the girl's father how she died. I lost crew down there and hell , I'm going to be honest I didn't know any of them really well and most of them I didn't see die and I'm still getting over it. Chekov though, watched as Kelly died and nearly died himself. I can't—"

"Kirk you don't really have a choice. Starfleet hostage Negotiations is involved and if you don't ask him, they'll bypass you and give the order themselves. "

He couldn't forget how people had made him talk after he had been debriefed after an incident when he was only a little younger than Chekov. He remembered having to recount the details and see the images as people coldly assessed what he was saying without really understanding at all. He wasn't going to make the navigator go through that if he could spare him. "Admiral I can't allow you to do this. You don't understand what it's like. I understand the situation is critical but I'm not going to force one of my crew to d this. I already debriefed him once , I'm not going to allow it again. Figure out something else Hell get an actor to play Chekov for all I care"

"That won't work Kelly sent pictures of Chekov to her father. He knows what the young man looks like. Also he may ask questions about her only Chekov would know the answer to. I think you're operating under the assumption that you have a choice Kirk. You don't." Komack continued in a quieter tone as he saw Kirk about to protest. "They're going to make him do it anyway. They were going to contact Chekov directly. I optioned to alert you first... I think the order would be better coming from you for his sake."

Kirk had no room to manoeuvre. He sensed a dead-end; if he couldn't prevent the situation he could at least control it. Kirk was quiet for a moment then said "What do you need?"

Komack quickly outlined the plan and then signed of. Kirk left the briefing room and told Uhura that he needed her to open a link to Starfleet Hostage Negotiations. He ignored her puzzled glance and turned to Chekov, who was studiously bent over his console inputting data. "Ensign Chekov?"

Chekov turned around at the sound of his name. Kirk saw dark shadows under his eyes, but his voice was steady as he answered "Keptain?"

Kirk hated what he was about to order the ensign to do but he spoke anyway. "Chekov, there's something Starfleet needs done and only you can do it."

Everybody on the bridge turned slightly and watched Kirk. Kirk wasn't usually that equivocal. Chekov was puzzled but said hesitantly "I vill do eet If I can."

Kirk explained "There's been a hostage..." When Kirk had finished speaking , Chekov summarized "They vant me to tell him vhat happened, so he von't kill all those people?" Kirk nodded. Chekov was quiet, and closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. He stood up and swallowed before saying "I'll go."

Chekov didn't look back. Sulu watched as he walked stiffly by. He would have said something to his friend by way of encouragement, but he knew Chekov wouldn't have liked that. As Chekov passed Spock, the Vulcan said softer than was usual for him "You won't have to tell the details most likely, a brief overview will suffice Ensign."

Kirk was irritated by Spock's comment until he realized that it was the closet thing to support that the Vulcan could give. Chekov said "Aye Mr. Spock". He was walking carefully, avoiding meeting anybody's gaze. When he passed Uhura, she passed him an earpiece and said "I'll be monitoring the channel". Her hand lingered on his a moment longer than necessary. Chekov thought he saw pity in her eyes. He turned away quickly, he didn't want pity.

Without allowing anybody else a chance to speak he inserted the earpiece and walked the short distance to the briefing room. As he walked into the briefing room He heard Uhura's voice through the ear piece say "Establishing link with hostage Negotiations now".

A stern female voice through the ear piece said "This is lieutenant Lyons , Starfleet hostage negations officer. I take it your Captain has apprised you of the situation?"

Chekov responded. "Aye."

" Good, then you know that the situation is very delicate right now. You're ordered to give him the minimum of information possible. Just let him do the talking and answer his questions. We can't risk any civilians knowing about the T'karis colony, and the situation with the Romulan You're to answer as I instruct for all queries. Do you understand Ensign Chekov?"

"Aye, Lieutenant"

"We're opening a visual to Jonathan Kelly. I'll be listening to the conversation and providing prompts as necessary"

A man's face appeared on the viewscreen . It was older and male, but bore a striking resemblance to Ensign Kelly. The man looked utterly miserably his cheeks were covered in stubble; his face was thin and worn and his eyes were sunken and bleak. He spoke "Who are you?"

"Ensign Chekov, Pavel Andreivich Chekov."

Kelly's father said "Chekov, the navigator on the bridge, right?"

Chekov nodded.

"Leah talked about you in her letters; she—she said she loved you"

Chekov didn't know what to say.

"Did you take care of her ? Did you love her?" Kelly's father asked

Chekov swallowed for a moment he couldn't speak. The earpiece crackled as Lieutenant Lyon chimed in "Answer yes, tell him you did, even if you didn't. We—"

Chekov tried to ignore her as she continued talking; he fought to keep his voice steady, even so it cracked slightly as he said "I did, Sir."

"Excellent response , brief believable-"

Jonathan Kelly was silent for a moment and stared at Chekov inscrutably, then said abruptly. "Starfleet came to where I was staying and told me she had died. Right out of the blue, you know?" He ran a hand over his face then continued "I asked what had happened and they told me it was classified."

Kelly's father was quiet then suddenly yelled "Classified! My only child is dead, the only thing I have left and it's f—ing Classified!" He laughed humourlessly and shouted "My little girl, Leah, is dead and it's classified!"

Chekov's eyes were burning; he swallowed past the lump in his throat.

"Just let him talk ensign. Right now he's venting, a normal reaction to the grief he's experiencing"

"I need to know what happened I need to know!" Kelly's father fell silent and there were tears in his eyes. After a moment he asked softly "Was she alone? Leah was always afraid of dying alone...I-I made her leave when her mother was dying, we both left the room - I couldn't take seeing Clara like that. - I didn't want Leah to see her like that. We left. I just needed to get away for awhile and then Clara died. She was alone."The last phrase was whispered. His eyes were turned downwards. He glanced up and said "I don't think Leah ever forgave me for making her leave Clara. Then when Leah told me she was going to Starfleet, I told her that if she did that not to come back and I never wanted to see her again. I thought that would dissuade her, I was so afraid I would lose too. Now she's gone ...I never apologized."

"He's obviously feeling guilt over his relationship with his daughter. If necessary we can use this to our advantage in negotiating the hostages' release—"

Chekov was having a hard time controlling his own emotions, listening to Kelly's father's words were pure torture.

"She continued writing to me, but I didn't answer until after the Narada Incident. God, I'm so stupid. I miss her so much." Kelly's father was silent again. Chekov wondered whether he had been given a reprieve, maybe he wouldn't have to recount how Leah had died.

After a moment though, Jonathan Kelly asked "You were with her? You know how she died?"

"I do " Chekov said softly.

"Please, you have to tell me was it quick? What happened?"

Chekov didn't answer he didn't want to talk about it. He felt sick just remembering. The silence stretched.

"Ensign Chekov, answer his questions. But remember don't tell him anything remotely classified, lie to him if necessary. He doesn't need the truth. I—"

Chekov reached up and pulled the earpiece out. He threw the object to the floor and crushed it with his heel. Steeling himself, he began to tell how Kelly had died. When he got to the part where Kelly had told him to leave, he faltered.

Kelly's father asked "So, you left her?"

"I-I-did-didn't" Chekov lied; the words stuck in his mouth but after a pause he finished the rest of the story.

Jonathan Kelly had tears running down his face as he said brokenly "At least she wasn't in pain and she didn't die alone"

Chekov hated himself .He hated the lies he had told.

"And it was quick you say?"

"Eet vas sir"

Kelly's father stared at him, then said "Pavel, you made Leah's last month's happy...Thank you"

Chekov blinked back tears at the man's gratitude. He felt even worse, Kelly's father was thanking him and he didn't deserve it. Leah would have been alive except for him.

He didn't say what he was thinking, instead Chekov replied "You are velcome sir...are you going to let the people you have go now?"

"I will Pavel; I never wanted to hurt anybody. I just wanted answers...Take care of yourself." Then Kelly's father signed off.

Chekov stared at the suddenly blank viewscreen without seeing it. Then he sat down in a chair at the briefing room table. He put his head in his hands; all the emotions he had felt since Kelly's death but suppressed threatened to come down. He sat in silence for several minutes then a tear rolled down his cheek, a small sob escaped. Another tear ran down his face and he took a long shuddering breath. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay, Chekov?"

Chekov quickly wiped his face on his sleeve and glanced up. It was Kirk who had spoken.

"I-I'm fine Keptain" Chekov said.

Kirk studied him carefully then asked uncertainly "Are you sure?"

"I am sure" Chekov replied. As Kirk continued staring at him Chekov realised Kirk was probably wondering why he had found him sitting at the table with his head in his hands. "I had a small headache" Chekov lied.

Kirk looked like he saw through the feeble excuse. He noticed the tears in the young Russian's eyes and the way he was still breathing heavily. "Maybe, you should take the rest of the shift off and go to the sickbay, or something". He glanced away from Chekov giving the navigator time to wipe eyes again.

"I'm fine now sir" Chekov answered quickly.

"Well okay. " Kirk perched on the edge of the table and said with an attempt at Light-heartedness "that tight a- Lieutenant Lyons was really mad that you broke contact. She wanted to have you court-martialed or severely punished. I got her to settle for me reprimanding you. So... consider yourself told off". Kirk had a small grin on his face."It all turned out okay though. Kelly's father surrendered himself nobody was injured. You did a good job Chekov."

"Thank your Keptain" Chekov replied quietly, there was an awkward silence, and then he finally asked "Keptain may, I return to my post now?"

Kirk wanted to say more instead he answered "you may." The grin on his face had disappeared.

Without another word Chekov left. Kirk stared after him.

Being captain meant he was the one who had to make decisions. Decisions that led to people dying or that hurt them. He didn't have a choice. In his life he had already made those decisions several times. Too many times. It didn't get any easier no matter how many times he did it.

XXXX XXXX

"Doctor you've got a message, in your office" He glanced up from where he was repairing an ensign's hand and said "what?"

"I said you've got a message" the nurse repeated.

McCoy looked back down at what he had been doing and said "tell whoever it is I'm busy, and I'll be a few minutes"

The nurse cleared his throat and said "sir, it's a woman; she said that if you didn't talk to her now she was going to hang up and leave you as clueless as you usually are." McCoy looked up now angrily.

The man said apprehensively "I was just relaying the message. She also said it's about your daughter."

McCoy dropped the tool he was holding, and peeled off his gloves. The Ensign whose hand he had been sealing up said "what about this?" His palm was still open and you could see muscle and tendon through the gash.

Dr. McCoy didn't even turn around as he said "Find somebody else to take care of it" He walked into his office leaving the startled ensign and nurse behind.

McCoy strode into his office and glared at his computer screen. McCoy recognized the black –haired woman there only too well, and felt a pain in his heart.

"Hello Jocelyn" he said evenly.

The woman sighed and said "Leonard, let's forgo the pleasantries, I didn't call to have a conversation with you. So let's make this as short as possible."

"You don't even have something to say to your ex-husband? Nothing? Not even an I-hate-you. I think I deserve something we were married for several years." McCoy quipped just to irritate her.

"Don't remind me, and unless you stop talking and let me tell you what I called to say, I'm gone."

He fell silent. God he hated her!

She pursed her lips enjoying the power she had and waited for several moments. McCoy didn't say a word, his eyes said it all.

"Your sister called me a few days ago, saying she couldn't contact you and did I have a way to or know where you were." Jocelyn paused and brushed her hair back. The she continued "Anyway I told her in no uncertain terms, I had no idea where you were, And wouldn't know how to contact you if she didn't since I had no desire to speak to a drunk a- like you"

McCoy had had enough of her insults "Well you're speaking to me now, so can you cut to the point, you bi-"

"Insults really? Leonard I'm hurt" she said but she didn't seem hurt. Indeed, she looked quite smug that she had succeeded in making him so angry. "And I said don't interrupt I'm trying to tell you about your daughter"

Her tone and comment made him angrier "God damn it ! She's yours too Jocelyn , just because you'd like to forget that doesn't change the facts.-"

"I'm not getting involved in one of your arguments" she said talking loudly over his words. She continued dropping her next comment like a bomb "Joanna was in an air skimmer accident. She's in the hospital."

McCoy stopped midsentence; he stared at Jocelyn, in shock. "Are you serious!" McCoy was beyond anger now. "What the f- is your problem, you've spent all this time trying to insult me and playing some kind of game, when you could've have just come out and said that!"

"Leonard don't you dare talk to me like that. Do you want me to tell you the rest? Or should I just go now?"

He wanted to reach through the screen and throttle her but instead he said politely "I'm sorry Jocelyn. Please continue." The words galled him. But they had the desired effect Jocelyn told him the rest of the story and the contact information for the hospital .

He allowed her to finish speaking , then quietly said "did you even go to the hospital? Is she alright?"

"How should I know how she is, I've barely seen her in the past few years. She's your responsibility, a responsibility you pawned off on others. You'd know how she was if you acted like a father and stopped putting your work before everything else."

McCoy couldn't believe, she could be this callous. He tried to reach through to her "She's our daughter Jocelyn, our daughter. I know you hate me and I probably deserve it. You don't have to like me. But don't you care anything about Joanna?"

"No I don't Leonard. She's your daughter. Not ours! Yours!" Jocelyn was angry now. "Your guilt trip doesn't work on me! I didn't choose to have her, you wanted her . She's your child your responsibility" Jocelyn continued her eyes blazing with fury "I'm not the person who should be feeling guilty; I didn't turn into a drunk just because I had a hard time in life. I didn't almost kill my own daughter." She continued each word cutting deeper " I didn't go gallivanting across the galaxy, because I lacked the self-control to stop myself from being a drunk on my own. ...I didn't abandon Joanna you did." With those final words she clicked off. McCoy stared at the screen for several moments he couldn't believe he had married her. He hated her guts.

McCoy turned away from the screen and tried to call the hospital, but his transmission wouldn't get through. He called down to the communications department, and a polite, ensign told him that transmission to and from Earth were severely restricted due to an unusual amount of ion storms in the area. Starfleet was only using the available resources from priority calls.

The ensign was unprepared for McCoy's response; first the doctor tried asking calmly again, explaining what he needed to do. The ensign was sympathetic but unmoved. As McCoy listened to him repeat what he had said, while politely refusing his request for the fifth time, he lost it.

He yelled at the man, swore at him, and generally insulted him right down to any future generations he may have had. He said things to the young man that he had never said to anybody, even when he had been in a drunken temper. Then he clicked off the channel. He stared at the intercom breathing heavily for a moment, then an idea came. He called Uhura.

Uhura may not have liked him very much, but she would surely be a lot more helpful than that man. He tried to contact her, but she wasn't on the bridge and she wasn't answering in her cabin. He turned away from the intercom frustrated. His fingers itched to go to his cabinet and get out a bottle of liquor and have a long drink.

He was about to fulfil his urge when the door opened, and Christine chapel came in catching him red-handed, with the bottle of brandy. She waited until the door had closed then said "The caller was your wife." He didn't confirm or deny it. She was the only one he had told about his past and only after she had gotten in the crossfire of him and Jocelyn.

Jocelyn had called a month or two ago and asked to speak to him. Chapel had unluckily answered. Chapel, not knowing who she was talking to, had started talking about McCoy in glowing terms. Something about this other woman's knowledge and praise of her ex-husband had raised Jocelyn's hackles. After allowing the Christine to talk for several moments, Jocelyn had slowly started to tear into Christine with little insults and particularly nasty insinuations. McCoy had come into the room to find Nurse Chapel close to tears, and after a quick argument with him Jocelyn had clicked off. In the midst of consoling Chapel clumsily, he had accidentally spilled his story.

Now Chapel stared at him almost pityingly but sternly as she said "Put that back Dr. McCoy, you can't take care of people if you're half drunk."

"Leave me alone Chris, you don't need to be a b-ch too" He said opening the bottle and raising it to his lips.

She strode toward him and slapped him hard across the face . Then, before he could do anything, had snatched the bottle out his hand and tossed it down the disposal chute.

He glowered at her furiously, rubbing the side of his cheek which was bright red .He was angrier about her disposing of his liquor, then being slapped. He yelled "what the f-, did you do that for? And that bottle was vintage!"

She looked at him and replied calmly "Because you're a doctor and you have a responsibility to do, you can't sit in here and reach for a drink every time something get's bad."

He looked at her, he knew she was right. Still, she just didn't understand. He explained what had happened. When he finished he could tell she was worried to but she said "McCoy, I understand you're worried about your daughter but you're not going to do her any good, getting drunk or standing around moping. Come out here do your job and as soon as the channels are open call the hospital."

McCoy sighed, but she was right once again. He followed her out the office, and got back to work. But he was preoccupied and gruff, the staff avoided him recognising his mood. All except Chris who finally told him mid-shift "Take a break, Go get something to eat or some coffee Leonard. You're driving everybody here crazy. And while you're going to the Messhall you can stop by the communications department and ask are the storms clearing up."

McCoy protested for a moment but she was insistent. He found himself walking towards the mess hall. Now that McCoy really thought about it her idea was good, brilliant in fact. First he'd get a cup of coffee then he'd go raise hell in the communications department until they at least attempted to patch him through to earth.

Next Chapter update will be April 1st. (with a two day margin of error either way.)Thanks to all followers, favouriters and especially reviewers. Question for this chapter: What do you think the effect of Chekov talking To Kelly's father will be on him mentally, good or bad? What is your opinion of Chapel and McCoy in this chapter? How did you like Lieutenant Lyons? To my guest reviewer: I love your feedback, just wish I knew who you were;) Thanks to all my readers and enjoy!