Title: Sound Waves
Fandom: ST:XI
Pairing: Spock/McCoy
Word Count: ~8,685
Rating: R
Warnings: character death, AU, longish, um...idk. If you see anything that needs a warning, tell me.
Notes v2.0: I thought I'd already posted this here. Oops?
Summary: Everyone who ever called him Leonard is dead; he's just "Doctor" now. Written for the ST_Olympics and the trek_crackbingo prompt "end of the world as we know it".
The babysitter frowned as she answered the door. "You're the pizza guy?"
Leonard McCoy smiled and hefted a bag.
The woman nodded. "Come on in while I get the credits."
She turned her back and he reached out, hypospray in hand. Leonard was kind enough to catch her as she fell, laying her on the sofa before making his way upstairs.
The room he entered was just as he remembered - same lavender painted walls, bed against the far wall covered in soft toys. He crouched down and shook the small figure awake.
She blinked slowly and smiled. "Daddy!"
"Hey pumpkin. You got a suitcase?"
She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "I don't think so. Why?"
"You and I are going on a trip."
He searched through her closet and found a backpack. "You put some of your things in this. I'll be right back."
He heard her puttering around as he entered his ex-wife's bedroom; he was looking for credits, jewelry, a suitcase or duffle for Joanna's clothes. There was a stack of credits in her nightstand under a false bottom, and a large suitcase in the back of her closet; it wasn't much, but it would do.
When he came back, Joanna was wearing a brightly colored shirt and polka dotted pants. She was trying to fit a few of her toys and her blanket into her backpack, but she wasn't having a lot of luck.
Leonard chuckled softly and sat on the floor. "Let me help you."
An hour later he was in a car, leaning against the door. Behind the wheel his friend was glaring. "That was stupid, Bones," the friend growled, "really freaking stupid."
He shrugged, tightening his grip around the sleeping child in his arms. "I couldn't leave her, Jim."
Jim sighed, shaking his head. "That was...don't do that again."
"Won't have to."
...
The half Vulcan entered the hospital without his partner.
Leonard stiffened slightly. They were always wary of strangers, on the very likely chance that the visitors were Federation spies. This one - Spock - seemed legit enough, but you couldn't be too careful these days, and they'd come into contact with spies before.
At first, Spock said nothing, preferring to watch the doctor work.
Leonard found it unnerving.
Spock followed him around the hospital – both sections. He watched in silence as Leonard checked a young woman's healing arm in the Clean room, the young woman shooting Leonard questioning looks. He followed Leonard to the Infected room, and watched Leonard administer antibiotics and listen to rattling lungs.
Just when Leonard was about to snap, he spoke.
"You are the only doctor on the colony?"
Leonard rolled his eyes. "S'why they call me Doctor."
Spock looked around the mostly empty room. "Do you have any assistants?"
No. "Some." Leonard headed into the hall and towards the back, where the supply closet and his office sat side by side.
"It is strange," Spock said, "that out of nearly four hundred people, there is..."
"Doctor! We hawe presents for you!"
Leonard could have kissed that Russian child. "Where's your nanny?" he said, as he turned around.
Pavel Chekov, smuggler, pirate, and navigator of a so-called cargo ship, saluted him and shook a bag in his direction. "Gifts. Father Christmas doesn't need a nanny."
Leonard took the bag. "It's July."
Pavel grinned. "Dates are irrelewant when your planetary year has ten extra days. That is only part of your present," he added. "The rest is in the square."
Leonard hummed as he dug through the bag. It was first aid stuff, bandages, disinfectant. "Where's that medical tricorder I was promised?"
"In the square" Pavel repeated. "There is personal stuff also."
Leonard placed the bag on a chair in his office and locked the door from the outside. "If Scotty got me bourbon I'll kill a chicken myself."
There was no bourbon, but there were new clothes and toys for Joanna, as well as the medical supplies he'd requested.
He'd have been more excited if it weren't for Spock hovering close by, standing out with his thick cloak and pointed ears.
His partner – Uhura – was better at blending in. For one, she wasn't dressed as if she anticipated a snow storm. She was wearing a light sweater and denim pants, nothing obliquely Federation about her.
Uhura was cozying up to Scotty, and Jim made a face and shot Leonard a peeved look across the crowd. She'd shot him down earlier, and Jim was still stuck on it.
Uhura could have been what she claimed she was – a traveler, stopping over in their town while they wait for a transport to Veta VI. Leonard could have been nothing more than a suspicious bastard, but she and Spock had this hum about them, sharp and bitter, and the humming had never steered Leonard wrong before.
He set down the crate he'd peeked in. "Cupcake!"
The man – who hated his nickname and the fact that his real name had slipped every mind but his own – lumbered over. "Yea, Doc?"
Leonard checked the closures on everything. "You got your cart with you? Take this to the hospital for me."
Cupcake had the biggest cart out of all of them; usually he traded transport for favors, but Leonard was the only doctor they had. He paid by doing his job, and no one but Scotty's crew charged him for services rendered.
He could feel Spock's eye on them as he told Cupcake where to put the crates. Leonard wasn't sure why Spock had such an interest in him. He didn't know anything important about how the town was run, and he wasn't the biggest gossip. He kept to his house and his hospital and his daughter, and he kept out of the way. If Spock was on the hunt for deep dark secrets and easy nuts to crack, he was barking up the wrong tree.
It was for the best really. Jim took care of his own business, and Leonard his own, and the Watch kept to the Watch. Leonard didn't know how Jim protected his secrets, and he didn't want to. Joanna was safer if everyone kept out of Jim's business.
He could hear his daughter's shrieking laughter coming from over the hill.
Spock came up behind him. "Is it true that there is only one child in this colony?"
Leonard stiffened. "It's true," he said.
Cupcake frowned. "Who're you again?"
Spock straightened and clasped his hands behind his back. "I am travelling to Veta VI. I will be departing on the Belle Christine."
Cupcake grunted. "Layover then. Won't you mind your own business, leave the Doc alone."
He picked up the top crate and nodded to Leonard. "They'll be waiting outside your office."
Leonard nodded and started poking through the smaller crates holding personal items. "She's my daughter," Leonard volunteered. "We get sensitive when someone starts asking questions about her."
"I see."
Someone who worked for Scotty had taken liberties with fashion. Joanna's clothes were bright and colorful, normal children's clothes, but nothing that their previous suppliers had bothered to gather. Leonard's clothing was equally cheery, bright greens and blues and yellows.
Jim jogged over, beaming like the prick he was. "Who ordered the rainbow?"
Leonard scowled. "Shut your hole!"
Jim gave Spock a cool glance as he crouched in front of Leonard's open crate. "Seriously though. I bet they can see that shit from space. Do they glow in the dark?"
Leonard shoved him, and Jim laughed.
Joanna would love the colors at least, and he could always cover the shirts with his jacket.
Jim's clothes were subdued like most everyone's, faded greens and browns. He lifted one lime green dress from the crate with the tips of his dirt smudged fingers. "Only the best for our best girl, eh?"
"I'm gonna kill whichever one it was," Leonard said.
"Nah," Jim replied. "She's little; she needs something bright and happy." Jim fluttered the dress about before stuffing it back into the crate. "What else did you get? Anything fun?"
Leonard shrugged. "Clothes. Toys. I think there's a lamp in here."
Jim made a face. "You're boring. No porn, no alcohol…." He leaned in close and lowered his voice. "Did Scotty get the bourbon?"
Leonard shook his head.
Jim groaned. "Figures."
Spock pressed close, a long line of heat down Leonard's back. "Alcohol is valuable to you?"
Leonard squinted up at him. "You always ask obvious questions?"
"When I wish to clarify information."
"Clarify information?" Jim asked, plopping down with his legs sprawled in from of him. "You studying us, Spock?"
"I am a scientist," Spock said. "I study constantly."
"Even tiny colonies at the ass end of nowhere?"
Spock froze, and Jim stifled a laugh while they waited for Spock to parse the meaning of that sentence.
"Hyperbole," Spock said after a while. "Interesting. Yes, 'even tiny colonies at the ass end of nowhere'."
"Layover," Leonard said. "You have to find something to do."
Jim snorted. "True enough. How long's you layover, Spock? Three weeks?"
"Six months," Spock corrected, and Jim and Leonard whistled.
"Layover that long, they might forget about you."
"We are registered on the ship's computer," Spock said. "It is highly unlikely."
Leonard rolled his eyes and closed his open crate with a snap. "Enough, my ass is starting to freeze. You wanna keep talking, you help me carry these."
Jim whined like the overgrown baby he was, but Spock examined the crates and picked up half without an ounce of effort to show for it. Jim and Leonard gaped at him.
"Vulcans are stronger than humans," Spock said. "I will require directions."
.
Leonard trudged through heavy snow towards the hospital, Spock stuck like a burr in his shadow.
For all that pointy-eared pest's assurances that he felt no emotions, he seemed to have grown attached to Leonard, despite all the doctor's grump.
As it got later in the season, the town was starting to fill up, and with it Leonard's hospital. Travelers poured in, seeking rest and refreshment in-between long swathes of travel. The constant influx of people meant the main paths were kept clear, but Leonard's walk to and from the hospital was his concern alone, and he was too busy to clear it as often as he needed.
This meant thrice daily walks to and from his house in snow up to his knees.
They had no hovercars – those were too expensive to ship and fuel and maintain. They were forced to rely on older modes of transportation: wagons, carts, and trusty old walking.
Spock followed him everywhere – hovering over his shoulder in the hospital, two steps behind him in the heart of town, lifting crates for him in the square, skulking outside Leonard's door. Some days he was worse than Joanna with the constant questions, and others he was eerily silent, just watching Leonard work.
Eventually Leonard got frustrated and told him to make himself useful, which resulted in Spock doing inventory for him.
When they got into the hospital, Leonard checked the temperature controls while Spock hung his coat by the door.
"I'm gonna do rounds," Leonard said. "Make sure no one croaked last night. You might want to stand in front of the space heater before you get to work."
"That will not be necessary, Doctor."
Leonard scoffed and put his bag over his shoulder. He'd just told a young pioneer that his liver would be just fine when Spock appeared over his shoulder.
"You are needed in the storeroom."
Leonard frowned but followed Spock anyway, taking care to leave the man's file at the foot of his bed. "What's wrong?"
"Some of your supplies have been stolen."
"Stolen? Which ones?"
Spock didn't say, but let Leonard see for himself.
"Go to the Watch headquarters," Leonard said after a while. "Get Cupcake and Giotto."
Spock left.
Leonard sat on the floor and looked over the room.
Treatments for rare and terminal diseases were mostly untouched, still carefully organized on their shelves. Medicines for more common ailments – flues, allergies, anxiety, medicines he'd stocked up on knowing he'd run through them quickly – stimulants, sleep aides, everything…. What hadn't been stolen was scattered on the floor. Many of the fragile vials that went into hyposprays had shattered on the floor.
Cupcake and Giotto's clomping footsteps echoed as they jogged towards him. Cupcake stopped first, slamming a fist into the wall with a hearty crack.
Giotto stopped after him. "Well shit," he panted.
"Don't break your hand," Leonard told Cupcake. "I won't be able to give you any painkillers for it."
Giotto squinted at the place where the lock had been. "Looks like they tried to kick it in before they realized the door opened the other way. That lock's mangled, but I bet Mr. Scott can tell you how they broke it." He put a hand on Leonard's shoulder. "We'll replace everything that's broken, Doc, and we'll comb the ship top to bottom to see if whoever it was tried to smuggle it onto our ship."
"I'll start the guys on a search," said Cupcake. "If they're still on the planet, we'll find them."
Leonard rubbed his hands over his eyes. "I gotta clean this up. Jim's gonna be pissed."
"You let me deal with Cap," Cupcake said, and clapped Giotto on the shoulder. "Let's get going; we got a lot of people to search."
Spock found a broom and a dustpan. "I will help however I can," he said.
Leonard took the objects from him and set them against a wall. "We need to find Peters," he said. "She was the one watching this place last night. And we need someone to hold the fort while we're gone."
"Nyota is helping to clear snow from the main road," Spock said. "She would be willing to guard the remaining supplies."
The need to find Peters and make sure no more medicine wandered off outweighed the need for caution in case Spock and Uhura were spies. Leonard nodded and Spock went to get her.
It took them till lunch time to find Peters. Whoever had dragged her body off had been aiming for the creek, but hadn't made it that far for some reason. The entire left side of her face had been bashed in.
Spock's face was flushed green by the time that made it back to the hospital.
Jim was waiting outside Leonard's office. "I saw the damage. Shit, Bones, they couldn't have picked a worse time…" He paused when he saw the body they carried, frozen stiff and nearly unrecognizable. "Tell me that isn't…"
"She's the only person here with purple boots."
"Fuck." Jim pressed the back of his palm to his lips, holding himself back. "She…fuck." He shook his head. "Cupcake says Watch hasn't found anything yet. I haven't heard back from Giotto, but Scotty's on his way to check the locks and replace everything."
There was a ringing in Leonard's ears (danger, danger), and he could see from the look on Jim's face that he heard it too.
"Put her…" Jim choked. "'Do what you have to do. Pavel has Joanna, she's safe. Meet me at headquarters."
Peters started to drip onto the floor. Jim left.
"There was a man who made headlines before The End," Uhura said as they cleaned the store room, Peters' body defrosting in their heretofore unused morgue. "He kidnapped his daughter, and they thought he'd skipped planet, because he couldn't be found anywhere on Earth."
"Nyota…"
"When they were looking for him," Uhura continued over Spock's interruption, "they found that not only had he disappeared, an entire network of people was gone, and no one knew how they'd made it off planet, if they'd made it off planet at all. Someone in the interplanetary transport commission noticed a glitch sending humanitarian aid to a planet that didn't exist. Before it could be investigated further…." She let her sentence trail off, sweeping broken glass and wood splinters into the dustpan Spock held for her.
"That's a nice story," Leonard said after a while, "but what does it have to do with this?"
"Nothing really," she said. "I just thought about it."
Spock said nothing, watching to see how Leonard would react.
"How 'bout you keep those thoughts to yourself from now on?" Leonard said as he carefully searched for whole vials amongst the mess, and the ringing (danger, danger) got louder.
.
"Definitely spies then." Jim groaned. "Thieves, spies, and murderers."
"Oh my," Giotto mumbled.
Jim shot him a look and braced his elbows on his desk. "We know what we're doing about the most pressing problem. What are we gonna do about the spies?"
"I'd like to kill 'em," Cupcake said, "but then the Federation would know for sure something was up."
"Why would they reveal themselves now?" Giotto asked. "They had a good thing going for them."
"I don't think it was according to plan," Leonard said. "He kept trying to stop her without being obvious, but she talked over him. She wanted me to hear it."
"We don't have the manpower to beat back the Federation" said Cupcake. "A drastic change in behavior would just prove to them we've got something to hide."
"We can increase security on Joanna." Jim shrugged. "I was gonna do that anyway. Someone on the Watch, phasers on stun. We can blame it on the thief." He sighed. "Bones, you're gonna have to keep talking to them. You want a weapon?"
He didn't bother suggesting a guard; Leonard could take care of himself.
Leonard shook his head. "Still got plenty sedatives."
.
"What's your name?" Uhura asked as Leonard treated her for frostbite.
"What's it matter?"
"All anyone calls you is 'Doctor' or 'Bones'. Do you not like your real name?"
Leonard shrugged. "I like it fine. No point in calling me anything else; people know who I am."
"Don't you miss being called by your real name?"
"Everyone that used to call me by that name is dead. It's not really necessary out here."
"We must talk," Spock said later, while Leonard scanned a patient with a tricorder.
"Go ahead."
Spock grabbed his arm. "Privately."
Leonard hesitated, looking at Spock's hand on his arm. Vulcan's were touch telepaths, but Leonard had defenses of his own. He didn't know what Spock picked up from the touch, but he knew Spock wasn't reaching for anything mentally, or pushing, or tugging.
Spock was a spy. He suspected, but he had no solid evidence. It was unlikely he'd do anything until he knew more, until Leonard let something slip that was undeniable.
"Let me finish this," Leonard said. "Wait in my office."
Scotty – fiddling with the door to the storeroom – gave him an odd look as he went past. "Anythin' I need ta tell Jim?" he asked softly.
"Not that I know of," Leonard replied.
"Ah'll keep a lookout," Scotty said and returned to his work.
Spock was standing in front of the bookcase when Leonard closed and locked the door. "What is it you wanted?"
Spock straightened into a pose that looked vaguely Starfleet. "Conversations with my associate may have led you to believe we intend you harm. I wish to assure you that that is not the case."
Leonard raised an eyebrow. "You couldn't say that out there?"
"Our mission is real. After we depart we will be stationed at an outpost on Veta VI. That posting was arranged on the condition that we completely this assignment on behalf of the Federation. They desire to know whether someone here was in anyway responsible for the Narada Disaster."
"The Romulans are the ones responsible," Leonard interrupted. "That's common knowledge."
Spock nodded. "The Federation is not unaware."
Leonard scowled. "Scapegoat, eh?"
"An effort to restore confidence in the protections promised by the Federation. The location and punishment of those persons unaccounted for would be –to use a human expression – killing two birds with one stone."
"Fuck." Leonard sat on the edge of his desk. "You know that there are only four hundred of us? You'd be short seven hundred."
"I know."
They lapsed into silence, Leonard attempting to quell the anxiety that had built up in his stomach. He eventually stirred.
"It is interesting that the eleven-hundred fled the planet mere days before the disaster," Spock said. "The chances that they were capable of that without prior knowledge are vanishingly small."
Leonard pressed a hand to his ringing ears. "Maybe some of them did. If some of them had precog…."
"The human brain cannot support precognitive ability."
"So they say." Leonard unlocked the door. "Did you know that it used to be common knowledge that humans couldn't respond to telepathic stimulus? Now it's the done thing in psychiatric medicine." He looked back at Spock. "It's enough to make you wonder."
.
When the ringing changed to a pounding (doom, doom) Leonard didn't have it in him to be surprised.
They'd never caught the person who killed Peters. By the time they'd found the thief, the supplies had been spirited off planet. As a community they'd pooled their resources to pay for more. That meant funds were tight as the snow began to melt.
Everyone had their own patch of garden – even some of Scotty's crew, who paid for their plots to be taken care of when they were away – but half their people had spring and summer homes where they went to farm. The farmers were reluctant to leave, afraid the evac sirens would sound and they'd be left behind.
Even Scotty was reluctant to break orbit. "Ah dinnae have it as strong, but I hear it just as well. Those shuttles might not be enough, if a planet-killer comes calling."
"That'd be bad for everyone," Jim said. "You'd lose money, we'd have to get our supplies through a ship we can't trust. Do what you need to do."
Scotty left them with promises of satellites and shields, and they welcomed the spring by jumping at shadows and fearful glances at the sky above.
Twice, Leonard jolted awake to the sound of a siren, his heart in his throat, only to flop down again at a woman's cool voice saying "This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. In the event of a real emergency…"
Spock continued to help at the hospital.
"I've gotten spoiled, having you here," Leonard said. "Spoiled and lazy."
"Why have none of the others chosen to assist you?" Spock asked, checking the locks on the storeroom.
"They're busy. We haven't been able to afford much robotic equipment."
Spock watched Leonard take something for his migraines and waited while Leonard set the lock. "If the eleven-hundred had possessed precognitive abilities, would they not have warned their fellows?"
"Probably," Leonard said, rubbing the injection site with a grimace. "But you said it yourself – as far as anyone knows, humans can't have precog. End of the world cults were mocked for centuries; you try and tell someone you knew the world was gonna end 'cause you'd had a vision or heard the disaster in the air, you get laughed out of town if you don't get tossed in a padded room."
Leonard waved Spock into his office. "I'm surprised you decided to spend all this time in the hospital. We aren't exactly booming with business, but the town isn't boring either. You could be catching up on some holo-novels or something."
"Nyota and I were told to integrate ourselves into the community," Spock said.
"I imagine you weren't told to let on that you were spying on us?"
"That was Nyota's decision."
"Curious one to make. Doesn't that jeopardize your trip to Veta whatever?"
"There is no need for the Federation to know."
Leonard grinned. "Sounds...logical."
"Indeed."
"Still," Leonard said, gathering his things to leave for the night. "You could take a break every now and then, do something fun."
"My time is better spent here."
Spock was certainly helpful. On any given day, Leonard usually had one person helping him, and only at night. Leonard did inventory, Leonard checked every patient, ran every test, cleaned every surface, took everything out and put everything away. With Spock's help, Leonard still did most things, but Spock did inventory and helped put things in their places.
Leonard and Spock were quiet as they started the long trek to Leonard's house. About halfway, they met Cupcake's cart, coming onto the path from the road that led out into the wilderness. He offered them a ride that they declined.
"Everything going well?" he asked, giving Spock a suspicious glare.
"Everything's fine," Leonard said. "And you? Trade going well?"
Cupcake shrugged. "Trade's good. They have more carpenters than we do, and a blacksmith. May not sound like much, but the farm equipment..."
"I understand." Everyone understood. The Others had carpenters, a blacksmith, a tiny school. The Others didn't have a cargo ship. "And if everything works out, Clara and Iggie will have a lovely cradle."
Cupcake smiled at that – everyone did, when someone mentioned the possibility of a baby. "It'll be nice to have another child down here. Speaking of children..." Cupcake turned to reach into the back of his cart. "I was going to give you this tomorrow, but now's as good a time as any. It's for Joanna."
It was a copper tea set. Leonard was used to toys, but this was expensive for a toy. Cupcake waved away his protests. "It was no hardship. Her birthday's coming up."
So Leonard and Spock continued down the road.
"The people seem to care a great deal for Joanna." Spock said.
"She's an only child. When your planet's destroyed, children are that much more important."
"Agreed." Spock clasped his hands behind his back, seemingly a favored pose for him. "How long have you lived on this planet? Have none of the others reproduced?"
"We've been here long enough to get everything built up right. No one wanted children until we'd gotten stable. There are more children in the other colony, but we consider ourselves two separate groups. I don't know them well enough to take my daughter there."
"Is it possible that they were the source of the thief?"
Leonard frowned as he thought. "Possible, yes. Not likely. They're wealthier than we are – more people, more buildings, more purchasing power. Anything they need they can buy. And if they can't buy it, they can always beg the Federation for aid."
Spock noted Leonard's disdain with a raised eyebrow. "You do not see the Federation as an option?"
"I see the Federation as the sons of bitches who got Earth blown to smithereens, then looked for anyone they could find to shift the blame. We've been raided by them before. They break into our homes, threaten us, steal from us..." He looked at Spock. "The best thing about you and Uhura is that you didn't threaten anyone. You watched; that was it."
"You speak in the past tense."
"Are you still spying on us?"
"We are observing. When the time comes we will tell the Federation that there are too few people for you to be the criminals they seek. It is the truth."
"Is that why you're staying on at the hospital? To observe me?"
"I continue to assist you because I find your presence stimulating."
Leonard stopped in his tracks, giving Spock a raised eyebrow of his own. "Stimulating?"
"Yes."
"You know how that sounds?"
"I am aware."
They stared at each other – or, rather, Leonard stared, and Spock watched him passively.
"Spock..."
Spock took one of Leonard's hands in his own and pulled him closer. His lips, when he pressed them to Leonard's, were warm and soft. "I find you incredibly stimulating," he said again, when they parted.
That night, Leonard introduced Spock to Joanna.
.
Delivery Day came around again, right on schedule, and with it several shipfulls of people, and with them, plenty of diseases and injuries for Leonard to deal with. Scotty didn't have long in orbit, just a day to rest and deliver the promised protections.
Spock was, as always, a great help. When Leonard was working, and when they went into the heart of town, he behaved the same as he always had, full of questions like a child, eyes taking in everything. When they were alone and their work was gone, he was more affectionate than Leonard had expected. He was still calm and unruffled, but there was a heated edge to every touch and every word.
He kissed with the same focus and intensity he had for everything. He was handsy; he touched Leonard everywhere, except for certain places on Leonard's face, and he loved Leonard's hands.
"Hands hold a great deal of importance to Vulcans," Spock said, examining Leonard's hands from where he sat at the kitchen table. Through judicious application of tongue he had convinced Leonard to sit on the table itself.
Leonard knew this wasn't nearly as erotic for him as it was for Spock, but he wasn't complaining. "Not as erotic" was a long way from "not erotic at all".
"Vulcans are touch telepaths," Spock continued, running the coarse pads of his long fingers over the lines in Leonard's palms. "Our hands are extremely sensitive."
"I'd heard," Leonard said softly. "I'd heard that you were telepaths. I wasn't sure."
"When I touch you, I feel what you feel. At this moment, you are aroused."
"You don't need telepathy to know that."
"You are also impatient."
"Because you're being a tease."
Spock's left eyebrow twitched. "This is the Vulcan equivalent of a human kiss. I assure you, I am not teasing."
"Teasing or not, you have to admit this is a little one-sided."
"How would you proceed?"
Leonard took the first two fingers of Spock's right hand into his mouth.
Spock was the furthest thing from stoic during sex.
.
Leonard shot upright in the dark, doom clanging in his ears. He'd slept with Spock (stupid, stupid – Jim would kill him when he heard), and it'd tripped something in his head. Maybe it was because Spock was a telepath, maybe they'd spent those five months getting attuned to each other, maybe it was a million little things that no one knew about precogs. He'd wonder about it later.
He went to shake Spock awake and saw the half-Vulcan staring at him.
"How much of your family is on your home planet?"
"All of them."
Leonard groped on his night table for a pain killer. "There's a comm. station in the welcome center," he said. "Tell them to get out."
Spock got the hypospray for him and sat back on the bed. "Explain."
"It was you; this whole time we thought it was us, but it was you. Something's gonna happen on Vulcan. A disaster. You need to tell your family to get out."
He could hear Joanna begin to cry from the loft next to his. The sirens began to sound, and this time, there was no cool voice to say "This is only a test". Spock touched his hand and felt his fear.
"Retrieve your daughter," Spock said, standing and reaching for his pants. "Meet me at the welcome center."
Leonard dressed half-hazardly and almost fell down the ladder. Spock was gone before Leonard pulled a shirt over his head; Leonard feared it may have been too late. Everything was consumed by the knowledge: (DOOM, DOOM), planet-killer. It felt like his ears were going to explode.
The hospital was brightly lit, front doors open wide as patients were ferried to the shuttle behind a once locked door. He ran past it, barely sparing it a glance as he hurried towards the center of town.
The main square was packed with people swarming as if their anthill had been kicked. Confused tourists and settlers half mad with pain and fear collided in a disorganized mess.
Leonard found Jim in the center of the mess, trying to organize chaos.
"What are you doing?" Jim snapped. "Why aren't you at the hospital? Get that kid on a shuttle!"
"It's not us!" Leonard shouted over the screams of the crowd and his daughter's pain filled shrieks. "Get everyone back inside!"
"It's planet killing weather. Don't you hear it?"
"It's not us; it's Spock!"
"The spy? I'll deal with him later."
"No! His planet. We're hearing Vulcan's death."
"What?"
"Turn the sirens off."
"Bones, we're nowhere near Vulcan. How can we be hearing it? How can you be sure?"
Cupcake's booming voice battled with the wail of the siren, shouting directions. Someone or something hit Leonard's back and almost knocked him over.
"I don't know. I just...fuck. There's no time. Meet me at the welcome center."
The welcome center was blessedly quiet. The only sound was their breathing and the ring of doom in their ears.
The comm. station was near the front of the building. Spock was in low conversation was a stern looking Vulcan. He looked over when Leonard entered.
"Are they leaving?" Leonard asked as soon as he was in hearing range.
Spock shook his head. "I do not have a satisfactory explanation to provide."
"Their homeworld is about to be blown up; I'd say that's as good an explanation as anyone needs."
"Not a Vulcan," said Spock. "Any explanation you can give, Doctor, would be greatly appreciated."
"I don't have time to explain. Can't you..." Leonard hesitated as something occurred to him. "Is there a way for you to look into my mind and hear what I hear? You're a telepath; that's what they do, they read minds."
"There is one way."
"You put yourself at great risk," said the Vulcan on the screen. "It is unwise to share your mind with someone you have only just met."
"We have known each other five months," Spock said, "and this is the only way to be certain that his information is correct." Spock gently removed Joanna from Leonard's arms. "There is a way, a joining of minds, but it can be very unpleasant for those without adequate preparation."
"I don't care," Leonard said. It was a lie, but this was too important. "I don't care what you have to do as long as you do it quickly."
Spock spread his fingers against the side of Leonard's face, the places he'd been reluctant to touch. "My mind to your mind."
Spock was unprepared for the sound disaster made. It wasn't a surprise to Leonard. Why should Spock have heard it before?
Leonard could feel Spock's interest, heard Spock's "Fascinating" in his ears and in his mind.
"No time," Leonard said, Leonard thought as insistently as he could. "Hurry; there's no time."
Spock pulled out of Leonard's head and turned to the view-screen. His voice cracked when he spoke. "Vulcan is in danger. You must evacuate. There is no time for an explanation."
Leonard heard a woman's voice before Spock ended the call. "Who was that?"
"My father. He is a member of the High Council. He will see that the maximum amount of lives is saved. There is nothing else we can do."
It didn't feel like enough. Leonard pried Joanna off his leg and picked her up again, rubbing her back. He had nothing to give her for pain; children's pain medicine had been one thing he hadn't been able to buy.
Leonard closed his eyes and took a moment to breathe, trying to calm down enough to take care of Joanna. When what felt like a rubber band in his brain snapped, he went crashing to the floor.
There was a long moment where he didn't know anything but the fire of pain in his head, and then the pain faded enough for him to hear that the chaotic roar of disaster had become the melancholy hum of grief. He opened his eyes.
His daughter was unconscious.
Spock had managed to catch them as they fell, but now he was clutching his own head in apparent agony.
Leonard forced himself upright. Spock was breathing heavily. Leonard wished he hadn't been in such a rush; his tricorder was at the house, beside the bed.
The door opened. Leonard turned and saw Jim stagger in.
"Talk to me Bones."
"Vulcan is no more."
That was Spock, answering for Leonard as he straightened from his hunched pose.
"I'm sorry," Leonard said. It wasn't enough, he knew, but it was honest.
"There may be survivors. We will not know more until a ship enters orbit."
"How do you know?" Jim demanded. "Why aren't we dead?"
"For your first question, I think it's a psychic thing," said Leonard.
"Spock's psychic?"
"I am a touch telepath, but the doctor's hypothesis is essentially correct. Vulcans form psychic bonds with each other over the course of their lives. Most of these bonds are faint and inconsequential, but when those bonds are severed-"
"Yeah yeah okay," Jim interrupted, "but why are we alive? Bones, you said we were hearing Vulcan. How did you know?"
Leonard looked away. "That...might be a psychic thing too."
"The doctor and I participated in sexual intercourse," Spock said, blunt as ever. "During the act he may have subconsciously attuned himself to my future."
Jim made a face and slumped against the nearest wall. "Bones. Tell me you didn't."
Leonard didn't say anything.
Jim swore. "Seriously? With the spy? You won't sleep with me, but you'll sleep with the spy?"
"I am no threat to you," said Spock.
Jim glared at him. "You're spying on us; I'd say that makes you a threat. Enough about that. You slept together and that's what made you think it was Vulcan instead of us?"
"I knew it wasn't us, I didn't just think it. Same way I knew it was Earth."
Jim opened his mouth to say something else, but Spock stood and bent to pick up Joanna. "This conversation will go nowhere at present. We must get Joanna to the hospital and alert the populace; they are still under the impression that we will die tonight."
"We shouldn't talk about this in front of him anyway," Leonard added. "No offense."
"None taken."
"What will you do after you've dropped her off?" Leonard asked.
"I will meditate."
"You trust him with her?"
Leonard nodded in response to Jim's question, and wearily pushed himself to his feet. Spock was right; they needed to let people know that they weren't going to die, and they need to make sure no one had gotten hurt.
Answers would come in time.
With the next ship not scheduled to arrive for another two weeks, they had nothing to do but wait. The entire village was quiet, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Leonard went to every farmstead to make sure no one had gotten hurt. Sometimes Spock came with him, other times he stayed behind to keep a watchful eye on the hospital.
Joanna was clingy and quiet. She stayed with her father on the long wagon rides to and from the farmsteads.
Spock was with them on one such ride, when their wagon rolled to an unexpected stop.
The wagon's owner – Mallory Riggs – hopped out to take a look at the engine. "What the devil..."
Leonard watched as she checked the "horse" for damage. "What's wrong with it?"
"Engine's crapped out on me. I don't know what happened."
The Others, the Farragut, lived several kilometers away. Jeffries was kind enough to tow them there with his animal drawn cart, as it had been his land they'd stalled on, but it still took them a few days to get there.
The difference between the colonies was jarring. Central Farragut was busier and louder. There was a wider variety of species living there. If Leonard remembered correctly, there were around twelve hundred people living there in all. There were enough children for them to have a small school, and they had a proper carpenter with a workshop, as well as a blacksmith and a mechanic.
Jeffries' cart was passed by small automobiles and hoverbikes, and while it wasn't the only animal drawn vehicle present, it did stand out.
These people had made an effort to keep up with Federation fashion. There were no faded earth tones and simple outfits here. Everything was bright and stylized, full of conflicting patterns and ridiculous cuts. Farragut had had Federation assistance when it had been established, and it showed in every building and on every street.
Leonard didn't like it.
Jeffries got them to a mechanic, and the mechanic and Mallory started arguing almost immediately. Jeffries had business he'd been putting off, so he got to it, and Leonard, Joanna, and Spock were left to wander the city on their own.
"Where do you want to go?"
Joanna hadn't been in city in a long time – not since before earth kicked the bucket; she looked around with wide eyes. Spock seemed equally intrigued.
"Is it true that this city possesses a marketplace?"
Leonard nodded and waved in a circle. "This is more or less it. They have a proper grocery store instead of an allocations system."
"Shall we walk there?"
Leonard shrugged. Grocery stores weren't his idea of a fun outing, but he had nothing better in mind. He led the way, keeping a tight hold to Joanna's hand.
People on the side walk – there was actual side walk here – stared as they walked past. It shouldn't have been so obvious that they were foreign, but there was that whole clothing thing. Leonard, being a doctor in a tiny town, didn't spend much time getting dirty, in the usual sense. There was the occasional blood and vomit, but modern medicine meant most of the mess didn't end up on his clothes. Despite that, his clothes were worn, and it was difficult to avoid being covered in dust – paved roads weren't exactly abundant.
The store was quieter than the street, but not exactly empty. Leonard could feel the burn of eyes against his back. He reminded Joanna to keep her hands to herself.
Spock, either oblivious to the hairy-eyeball they were getting from the other patrons or just too repressed to care, began to walk every aisle front to back.
They'd made it to the candy aisle – "all made on planet!" – before they were intercepted by a green-clad grocer. "Can I help you?"
Spock blinked at him. "I do not require assistance at this time."
"Are you planning on making a purchase?"
Joanna was eyeing the candy. Leonard didn't have any credits.
"I will not know until I have made a thorough survey of your merchandise."
Spock returned to his perusal of the shelves. The grocer hovered. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you from out of town? You know, we offer discounts to off-worlders."
"Interesting," was Spock's only reply. "Doctor, do you know of any reason not to ingest these dessert items?"
"Other than them being seven credits more than I can afford, not really."
"Very well. Joanna, I require your assistance in the selection of a flavor."
Joanna looked up at her father, who nodded. She beamed.
The grocer hovered at the edge of the aisle while Spock and Joanna carefully poured over the options available. The observation made Leonard uncomfortable.
"I didn't know you had any credits with you." Leonard said softly.
Spock's eyebrows twitched. "I endeavor to always be prepared."
"So I see. Are you close to a decision?"
Spock nodded.
"Red or blue, Daddy?" Joanna asked, pointing at his two options.
Leonard picked the blue.
.
"Are you from Enterprise?"
Leonard was getting tired of that question.
"I've never been. I hear it's really quiet there."
Spock frowned at the water reclamation system he was examining, and Joanna imitated him. "This system is out of date."
The green-skinned woman crouched down to look at it with him. Leonard rolled his eyes. "Maybe you missed it, but everything's outta date here."
"Do you have a more modern one in Enterprise?" The woman seemed curious and not at all angry.
"We do," Leonard said, because it wasn't as if Spock would know. "Custom made."
The woman looked wistful. "I'd love to see it. I have a bit of a thing for engineering."
"I'd think there was enough 'engineering' here to keep you satisfied for a life time."
"But there isn't." Her eyes were wide and serious, and she lost some of the happy air she'd carried with her when she came. "You guys are almost completely cut off from Federation aid but you've managed to begin the construction of your own miniature power grid and a rudimentary planetary defense system. We had to negotiate with you to get our satellite." Her voice dropped at the word satellite, like it was some kind of secret.
Leonard shrugged. "We're still a tiny town that's almost one-hundred percent human. Most of our homes don't have access to the grid."
"You still have one." She held out a perfectly manicured hand, all smiles once more. "I'm Gaila by the way."
Leonard shook it, bemused. "They call me Doctor."
Spock got a faintly peevish set to his face during the hand shake. It was a moment before Leonard remembered the hand thing.
"How'd you get here?" Gaila asked. "Would it be okay if I rode back with you?"
"You'd have to ask our ride," Leonard said, though he'd rather have said "No." "She's with the mechanic, last I checked."
Gaila beamed. "Great. I'll know her when I see her." She jogged off into the crowd, bright red hair trailing behind her.
Spock raised an eyebrow at him. "Jim will be unhappy that you invited an outsider to the town."
"She invited herself," Leonard said, and stroked one of Spock's ears with the tips of his fingers. "You can get that look off your face, as well. She was just saying hello."
"You're s'posed to shake hands when you say hi," Joanna added, lips and fingers stained candy-blue.
"Vulcans do not 'shake hands'."
Joanna frowned. "You and Daddy do."
"Your father is..." Spock hesitated over the word "k'war'ma'khon."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I consider him family."
Joanna thought about this. "So you wouldn't shake the nice lady's hand because she's a stranger?"
"Something like that," Leonard said, heading off a long explanation before it could start. "Come on, let's see if Mallory's ready for us yet."
She wasn't, but Leonard and Joanna convinced Spock to play a game of tag just outside of Central Farragut by making it sound like a logical exercise activity.
When Joanna's sugar high had worn off and she was dozing against Leonard's side, listening to Gaila tell a story while the wagon rocked back and forth, Leonard felt safe enough to ask.
"That word you said today – kwarmakkon? Is that really what it means?"
"Yes." Spock twined their fingers together in the space between their thighs. "It means you are my family in everything but blood." Spock was silent for a moment. He spoke again before Leonard could figure out what to say. "It may be a hasty decision based on faulty logic and emotionalism, but it is the truth."
Leonard wavered between feeling touched and vaguely insulted, but settled on touched in the end.
.
The arrival of Delivery Day brought with it several surprises.
The first was that Gaila had not returned to Farragut.
"I didn't feel welcome there," she said, and while as a community they weren't sure if she was safe, they ended up happy to have her. She and Jim got along like a house on fire, and Uhura took a liking to her as well. They roomed together now that Spock was spending every night at Leonard's house.
The second was news that Spock's parents had survived, along with three million other Vulcans. The number was a huge blow to the Vulcan race – only three million remaining when there had once been six billion.
Third was that said parents had come to visit.
Spock's father did nothing more than salute him, but his mother threw her arms around him.
Spock's father introduced himself as Sarek.
"We've established a planet on which to rebuild," Sarek said. "Will you accompany us?"
"We were worried," Spock's mother – Amanda – said, as a sort of explanation. "We found a ship that would be willing to detour so we could make sure you were all right. Some..." Amanda stopped to lower her voice. "Some of the Vulcans who made it off the planet committed suicide. I wanted to be sure you were alright."
"I am well."
Leonard, trying not to make it obvious that he was listening, started to dig through his crate, taking stock of the medical and personal supplies he'd received. Scotty had finally scored bourbon, which meant Leonard owed him dinner, and there was a precious box about the size of a brick holding vials of children's pain medication. A little ways away, closer to a neat row of town houses, Clara and Iggie invited everyone within earshot to examine their new baby clothes.
Jim wandered over. "Hey Bones, Scotty get the bourbon yet?"
Leonard nodded. "Time to kill a chicken."
"No need," Spock said in the middle of his conversation with his parents. "You can purchase one that has already killed from Ms. Applewhite."
Jim gave him appraising look, then looked at Sarek and Amanda. "Who're they?"
Leonard slapped his leg. "His parents you ass. Where're your manners?"
"I think they're in my other pants." Jim winked at him. More seriously, he asked "Are they safe?"
Leonard looked to Spock.
"They will be here for only one night only," Spock said. "They are no danger to you."
Jim nodded and introduced himself, duty done.
Sarek and Amanda joined them for dinner that night, along with Scotty, Jim, and Uhura. They left the next day, on their way to start a new life. Spock stayed behind.
"I was worried," Leonard said that night. "I know you've got no obligation to stay and in another month you'll be gone anyway but..."
"K'diwa, come to bed." Spock reached out and Leonard went to him, shucking off his pants as he crawled under the covers.
"What does that mean?"
Spock silenced Leonard with a kiss, and Leonard realized later – much later, as he was drifting off to sleep – that Spock had completely avoided the question.
...
January came, and with it, the end of Spock's stay on the planet.
Leonard didn't turn around when Spock climbed into the loft. "Belle Christineis in orbit."
"It is."
"Will you be on it when it leaves?"
Spock sat in the bed, placing a hand close to Leonard's thigh. "Do you wish for me to stay?"
"Dammit Spock!" Leonard turned sharply to glare at him. "Can't you give me a straight answer?"
"Doctor, I care for you a great deal, but there are things about Vulcans that you do not know, and that I cannot explain to you. There are also secrets that you must keep, and if we were to bond..."
"It's a little early to talk of marriage, isn't it?"
Spock didn't answer.
Leonard looked down at their hands, only centimeters apart. "Spock..."
"I consider you to be k'hat'n'dlawa, half of my heart and soul. I do not desire to leave you, but I am aware that you may not feel as strongly as I do, and that the circumstances of my arrival here bring with them certain complications."
Spock must have seen the surprise on Leonard's face. "Vulcans feel, Doctor, however much we may desire not to; Vulcan emotions are more volatile than human ones, and more dangerous. My control over my emotions, and my repression of them, does not change their content."
"What about Veta VI? Your research?"
"There will be other opportunities for research, Doctor."
"Leonard," he corrected. "My name is Leonard."
"Leonard," Spock repeated. "It suits you." Spock turned his hand palm up on the bedspread. "Join with me, Leonard."
After a moment, Leonard rested his hand on top of Spock's.
That night, the Belle Christine departed for Veta VI with two new passengers. Leonard hoped Uhura and Gaila would be safe.