You stood in the isolation chamber, wringing your hands as you watched a doctor and his nurses try to find out what was wrong with you. Pain hit you again as you just stood there, wincing and blinking back tears. They told you to tell them when the pain hit but you didn't want to bother them so often.

But nothing escaped the handsome doctor. "Another wave of pain hit you again, right." His voice came through a speaker in the wall, sounding just as handsome as he looked. His hazel-green eyes bore into you, not with anger or hate, more with worry and concentration.

You bit your lip as you nodded, a bead of sweat trickling down your back.

"Blast." He looked you over before nodding to the bench behind you. "Sit. I have a feeling they are going to get much worse."

You did as he said, grasping the edge of the bench like it was your life line. "Didn't they teach you about bed-side-manner in med school." You tried to smile but you were sure it came out more like a wince.

The doctor seemed to relax a bit, stepping closer to the window as he gave you a small smile. "I must have missed that class. I'm not much of a morning person."

You nodded but instantly regretted it as the pain ran up your spine again. Tears fell this time, the pain worse than you have felt since this all started. The doctor looked like he wanted to reach forward and help, but the wall and window kept him away from you.

"I promise. I will not rest until we find what is causing this and making it stop." He gave you one last kind and apologetic look before his faced hardened again and he got back to work.

You held back sobs as you tried to refrain from thinking the worst. You were in safe hands. You could be in a worse situation. You have a handsome doctor taking care of you. You weren't dead.

Yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leonard McCoy rolled his shoulders as he looked over your blood samples and body holographs. His head hurt and he was tired, but he didn't want to leave you alone and hurting.

He looked over at you, sedated and peaceful, for the moment, in the containment room you were staying in. As it turned out you were infested with micro-organisms that feast and grow off of your nerves system. Hence all the pain. But the moment you are sedated they disappeared, only to reappear when you are awake.

There were so many of them. He hated seeing you in so much pain but it was necessary in order to extract them while they were still visible. If he waited any longer in trying to find another way to extract them without hurting you he would lose you.

You were losing your memory. He could tell just by looking at you that you had no idea who he was now when only two days ago he was holding you in his arms as you returned from a harrowing away mission.

It took everything in him to not barge into the containment room to cradle you, sobbing into your hair as you would tell him everything was alright.

McCoy's thoughts were interrupted by movement in your little room followed by a groan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your head hurt as you blinked awake. Pain flooded your body as you sat up suddenly causing you to groan and squeeze your eyes shut.

"(Y/n)?"

Your eyes shot open at your name coming from a voice you didn't recognize. In fact, you recognized nothing. Except for the pain. The pain was like a nightmare that had clung to your soul.

You squinted through the pain up at the man who called your name. He looked worried, a few day's stubble shadowing his face. You blinked hard as you stood and slowly made your way to the large window that peered into what looked to be a medical room.

You placed a hand on the window, leaning against it slightly. "Where am I? What-" you gasp as pain shuttered through you again, "what is wrong with me?" Your voice wavered and you kept your breath shallow.

The doctor, you assumed he was as much, reached his hand up to match yours. "God I wish I could make it stop." He let out a heavy breath.

"Do you know me? Am I safe here?" Your breathing was labored but you wanted to know if you were safe to relax and focus on breathing.

The man nodded with a small, sad, smile. "Yeah. I know you. You're safe. I'll be taking care of you, you just need to hold on for a little bit longer." He looked you so earnestly you nearly blushed. "You think you can do that for me?"

You didn't trust your voice as another wave of pain hit, so you nodded. You didn't know this man, but he clearly knew you and by the way he looked at you, you possibly meant more. But you just couldn't remember.

So you just sat in your small isolated room watching him work as nurses can in and out. Flashes of what you assumed were memories or a nightmare, flooded your mind from time to time. Some good, some not so good. You were watching the doctor move about when he did something that sparked something inside you. All he did was run his hand through his hair then scratch his jaw and your heart did a little flutter.

You watched as he worked the worry lines on his face slowly ease away. That gave you hope as you winced through another shutter of pain. He turned to you but you didn't have time to look away so you smiled at him to mask your embarrassment of being caught starting. But the smile he gave you almost made your pain all worth it.

He stepped up to the window holding up a glowing clipboard, pointing to what you assumed was a picture of your body. "We did it, sweetheart. You won't be in pain for very much longer."

Tears sprang to your eyes, not because of the pain but because of the pure love and excitement that emanated from him, warming you. He called you "sweetheart". You smiled back, standing carefully, meeting him at the window.

"Thank you. I wish-" you swallowed, pain filling your head, "I wish I knew you. I wish I remembered."

He stepped forward, reaching out to you but remembered the window. "I know, sweetheart, I know. Just focus on your breathing. Let's take care of one thing at a time. Let's take away your pain."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

McCoy looked down at your peaceful form in his arms as he laid you to rest on a bio-bed. Three days of tireless work finally paid off. Him and his nurses found a way to keep the micro-organisms visible and alive long enough to extract them. You will no doubt be tired and in need of physical therapy to gain full use of your uninfected body. But he knew you were strong. He knew you would be able to make it through anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You found yourself standing with your science crew on a planet the Enterprise had found whilst on her travels. You volunteered to lead an away team to take samples of the life forms that inhabited the area. It took some convincing on the sweet doctor's part but after being cleared to go you didn't mind hearing his bickering on the other end of your open comms.

"I cannot believe I let you go."

You snorted as you opened vials ready to gather samples of plants and rocks to study later. "Honestly, I think you're just jealous."

You heard a soft chuckle on the other end. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that sweetheart. I like the fact I'm not standing on an unknown planet, probably surrounded by things that could kill me."

"You are on a ship meant to find unknown planets dear, what did you expect? For us to go to Jupiter and back? How boring."

You didn't get to hear his reply because a scream next to you grabbed your attention. A swarm of bee-like insects were attacking one of your crewmembers. There wasn't anything you could do as you watched her scream and fall to the ground, dead. The comms unit blew up with orders to beam you and your team back.

You quickly gathered what you could and was about to be sent back when you saw one of your crew members lagging behind. He had twisted his ankle in the chaos and was going to be the next victim. You broke apart from the group and raced after him, not wanting to lose another good scientist.

"(Y/N)! What in God's name are you doing?! Do you have a death wish?"

"Shut up. I can't lose another one."

"And I can't lose you! Leave him, he's already too far gone."

Sure enough, as you got closer he was already falling to the ground, his eyes slowly loosing signs of life. You gasped as you tried to race back to your landing party, watching as they were beamed back, without you.

You heard a lot of commotion on the other end of the comms as tears pricked your eyes.

"What do you think you are doing? You can't just leave her! That's my WIFE!"

Fear filled you as you continued to run from the swarm. You felt a nick on the back of your neck, making you hiss in pain.

"I don't care if she will be infected I can treat her. Get my wife back on this ship, NOW!"

You looked down at your hands and relief flooded your system as you recognized the feeling of being beamed back. You collapsed into the arms of your husband as you tried to catch your breath, the nick on the back of your neck suddenly becoming painful.

"Are you alright?" He held you close as nurses scanned you with their devices, relaying their findings to him.

You opened your mouth to reply but a scream came out as a wave of pain hit you like a truck.

"Stay with me (Y/n), I just got you back, don't flake on me now."

You faintly remember being put in a small room, one large window on one wall seeing into the Med-bay. You felt a kiss on your lips and then forehead before the man who held you left you alone int he room. You tried to call out, reach out for him to help you. Save you.

Then it all went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monitors beeping and your steady breaths filled McCoy's ears as he sat beside you, holding your hand gently in his. The extraction was a success and you were expected to make a full recovery. Body wise. But as for your memory, he wasn't so sure.

It pained him to see you look at him and not know the inside jokes you shared or be able to recall sweet moments together. He studied your resting face, trying to come to terms with the fact that you may wake up and not know who he was and what you meant to him.

But McCoy wasn't going to let that stop him from helping you fall in love with him again. His thoughts were interrupted by a small groan coming from you. Quickly, he stood, leaning over you a bit so he would be the first thing you saw when you woke up. He watched with bated breath as your eyes flickered open, the light making your (e/c) orbs shine.

He watched them, waiting to see the flash of recognition followed by your sweet smile. But it didn't come. But neither did fear or worry. Surely you remembered something.

"Hey there beautiful. How are you feeling." He stroked your hairline with one hand as he held one of your hands with the other.

You blinked up at him, taking in his features as you slowly reached up to touch his face. He smiled and your heart skipped. You couldn't help but smile back.

"I wish I knew this face," you whispered as you stroked his stubbled cheek.

McCoy's heart plummeted. He looked away, not wanting you to see the pain and disappointment that he couldn't hold back.

You didn't remember.

Suddenly, you laughed, gently bringing his face back toward you; your eyes glinted with mirth.

"Last I checked Dr. Leonard McCoy, my husband, HATED facial hair, despite his wife's fondness for it."

You suddenly found yourself engulfed in your husband's arms, hearing him say something shaving just out of spite. You laughed as you held him as tightly as you could with your weak arms. Fianlly, he faced you, kissing you soundly yet gently, holding your face delicately in his hands as if you might break.

Leonard pulled away, looking at you with loving eyes. "You remember."

You nodded, reaching up to run your hand through his hair. "I remember."