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Janice Rand left the Enterprise and its five-year mission one year into her stay.
It's almost three years after that when Leonard McCoy runs into her at a Federation Colony, in the hallways of its base, sobbing.
The Enterprise is docked for repairs and he's been invited to tour the colony hospital. It's a chance to learn about the current technology they have and to collect a few more supplies for sickbay.
He's waiting for whoever is to come and pick him up for the tour when he hears her. She's hidden away in the back of the waiting room, hands covering her face and elbows resting on her knees. Her hair is the exact same style as it was before she left- her own thing. He'd recognize it anywhere.
"Miss Rand?" He asks quietly, trying not to scare her.
She jumps anyways, suddenly looking up at him. "Doctor McCoy," She gasps out, rubbing at her eyes to hide the tears.
"Are you alright?" He asks, even though he hasn't seen her in years. They had had a tentative relationship, back on the ship. He gestures towards the seat next to her and she nods slightly. He sits down next to her quietly.
"Yeah-" Rand sighs, "I'm-" She shakes her head suddenly. "No. I'm not okay." She takes a shaky breath. "She's dead. She got sick, and we don't know how or with what exactly, but... They said they would do everything they could, and they did, and she's still dead." She chokes on a sob, furiously rubbing at her eyes again. "Sorry. It's been two weeks, I shouldn't be like this, especially when you're on shore leave-"
"No need to be sorry, everyone grieves differently," He speaks, "Who was it?"
"Annie," She whispers, seeming to curl in on herself. "She was only two, only two... I failed her."
Leonard inhales sharply. "Was she yours?"
Rand nods, taking a shaky breath. "Left the Enterprise because of her. Never told her father. I was far too scared to."
"Jim?" The very idea is something that he should not have thought of, and he regrets even whispering the name.
"Oh God, no," She snorts, a bitter sound. "She was Kevin Riley's. I haven't seen him in so long, I've never had the chance to tell him. And now..." She trails off, at a loss for words.
"What was she like?" He asks, twisting the ring around his pinky without thinking about it.
"She was beautiful," Rand smiles, sitting up a little straighter. "Annie was my little girl. She never met him, but she took a lot after Kevin." She pulls a heart necklace from underneath her uniform, turning it between her fingers. "It's a locket," She speaks, "I had it made a few weeks after she was born. It's got her first baby photo in it."
"She sounds like she was wonderful," He says, watching her play with the locket.
"She was, Doctor," Rand sighs, staring at the locket. She places her free hand over her mouth, and he can see the tears welling up in her eyes again.
"You can call me Leonard," He finds himself saying, trying to give her something, anything.
"Janice," She whispers, letting out a quiet sob as she places her hand back down in her lap. "As long as you call me Janice."
Before Leonard is pulled away, he contacts Uhura. She needs some time with someone she's more familiar with, someone she's close to. Not him.
The moment that Uhura appears, out of breath and nervous, Janice breaks down in tears again, hugging her tightly.
They leave soon after, back to Janice's place.
Janice pulls him in for a hug, whispering to him a "thank you."