A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, favourites and follows! I did have a description of the Heinlein's in my original author's note but like an idiot I deleted it to move it from the end of the chapter to the beginning and ended up getting distracted and not actually putting it at the beginning of the chapter. This time I've put a description in this chapter because I realize that not everyone reads the notes at the beginning of chapters, but thank you for those of you that do and I'm sorry that I'm an idiot and deleted the description of the aliens.

Getting this chapter out took me longer than I expected, mostly because I've been in a lot of pain. I didn't write it while I was doped up on pain meds (though it probably would have been interested if I had tried to) so hopefully it's not that bad!

This is completely unbeta'd so any and all mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek as much as I might wish that I did.

The amount of time it took Kirk to come up with a response was uncharacteristic for the man. He opened his mouth to speak, ending up only taking in a deep breath that puffed up his cheeks with air and was released in a long sigh.

A wife? His wife? No, that didn't make any sense.

"I must have heard you wrong, I thought you said that she was my wife." Kirk finally found the words he had been searching for, a nervous laugh threatening to escape his lips.

"Your hearing is correct Captain."

"Let's be serious about this Spock."

"As you know, Vulcan's do not lie."

The back and forth between the Captain and his First Officer was interrupted by a not so subtle clearing of the throat by Uhura, her disapproving gaze locked on Captain Kirk.

Oh my god, again with the look! What does she think? That I planned this somehow? Kirk fumed to himself. It's not like…what was her name? Kili? No, that wasn't right it was something else with a K. Kiele, her name was Kiele! It's not like Kiele was bad looking. Her skin was slightly lighter than the normal royal blue of the Heinlein people and her eyes were a startling green, especially in comparison to her jet black hair. Kirk could appreciate a good looking woman, that didn't mean he wanted to be married. Marriage was…binding.

A snicker from an unknown source pulled Kirk out of his internal rambling. The crew was waiting for him to say something, give some kind of order, maybe confirm or deny the news. Kiele looked expectant, he just didn't know what she wanted. Kirk didn't know anything about her. This was wrong, so wrong.

"You're not joking?" Dropping his voice, Kirk turned his body so that he was facing Spock and no one else.

"That is affirmative."

Another pause, Kirk was going over the entire night in his head. When had this happened and why hadn't anyone told hold sooner? Shouldn't he have been the first one informed when someone arrived on the ship claiming to be his wife? And that's when Kirk heard Sulu making the joke about his life being over.

This needed to be fixed and there was only one way to do that, he needed to go back to Heinlein.

The trip back to Heinlein had been painfully awkward, only made worse by the shocked reactions of the Heinlein ambassadors when the Enterprise entered their airspace again. Kirk quickly assured them that nothing had gone with the Federation, he just needed to speak with the Prime Minister about something personal. That only succeeded in earning more worried glances between the ambassadors, making Kirk immediately regret his choice of wording. There was no reason to bring Kiele up to all of them, it would only embarrass her. Contrary to popular belief Kirk actually knew how to respect women. The entire council didn't need to know that he had accidentally married a woman and was now looking for a way to undo it. Spock had looked over the cultural file on the Heinlein's once more. Apparently they kept their wedding traditions incredibly secret, there were no mentions in the files about wedding ceremonies-it was too late for that anyway-or divorce.

By the time the Enterprise had docked and Kirk had made it off the ship, two ambassadors were waiting for him. Their faces were passive, it was impossible to tell what they were thinking. It hadn't taken Kirk long to learn that Kiele didn't speak a single word of English and that only made things more awkward when he was trying to get her to follow him off the ship. Arriving back at home confused her and Kirk would swear she looked a little afraid. Chalking it up to the fact that she was worried that she had somehow upset him, Kirk pushed back any worries about righting the situation with the Prime Minister. During the discussions the alien had been nothing but kind to the Enterprise crew. His worry-free attitude towards the situation quickly started to dissolve as the tension in the air thickened around him.

"Captain, perhaps we should discuss the situation with the ambassadors first." Spock suggested as the small group-consisting of Kirk, Spock, two red shirts, Kiele and the two ambassadors- walked back towards the building where the Prime Minister was waiting.

"And have even more people running around talking about it? I don't think so." In an attempt to avoid drawing the attention of the ambassadors in front of them, Kirk kept his voice low. There was no reason to cause extra unnecessary tension, only the whispered tones seemed to be having just that effect. One of the ambassadors noticed the hushed tones and quickly whispered something to his companion. It was times like these where Kirk wished he had some kind of universal translator implanted into his brain. Kiele stayed silent the entire time, her head down and eyes locked on the pavement in front of her as she walked between the two ambassadors.

"Or the ambassadors can inform us of the normal occurrences that take place when a wedding is to be ended." Spock's normally even tone turned insistent.

"I don't think they're going to tell us anything Spock."

"Captain-"

"Mr. Spock, I think now would be a good time for us to stop talking about the matter." Kirk used his best I'm-the-captain-therefore-I-make-the-final-call tone of voice as they walked up the steps towards the building. He could already see the Prime Minister waiting for them in the archway with a look on his face that was far from the friendly smile he had worn the night before.

Each of the last few steps took a life time, Kirk was now painfully aware that a small crowd had gathered along the edges of the archway and all eyes were on him. A quick glance at his First Officer proved that he wasn't the only one suddenly feeling like a worm about to be fed to the birds. The Vulcan was tense, something Kirk had learned to pick up on over the time they had worked together. It was subtle enough for most people to miss, but the way Spock held himself was different when he was in high stress situations.

Kirk wasted no time stepping forward to speak with the Prime Minister, still clinging on to the small shred of hope that they would be able to get this over with quickly.

"Sir, there's been a misunderstanding between us. You haven't done anything wrong." He quickly clarified before the translators could start relaying his message on to the Prime Minister "When you said you were offering me token to symbolize union I didn't understand what you meant. I can't accept your…gift." Choosing the word gift was certainly stretching it but Kirk didn't want to seem rude. If this was something they did often on their planet, who was he to judge? It was a little strange and he'd probably mention it in his report so that the higher ups could check and make sure it wasn't violating some Federation universal rights law, however he wasn't going to challenge it here.

One of the translators whispered what Kirk had said into the Prime Ministers ear. The frown that fell across the blue man's face was impossible to miss. As he spoke to his translators he threw a couple glances over at the Captain, none of them looked all too pleased.

The tension in the air got thicker by the second as Kirk waited for the translator to relay the Prime Ministers reply to him.

"You cannot accept the union?" It was a short question but from the tone of the translator Kirk knew how serious it was.

"No, I'm sorry. I can't."

Spock had stayed a couple steps back, letting the Captain handle it by himself, until he felt the situation was getting too tense and something else needed to be said. The Vulcan had let his gaze wander across the gathered crowd during the discussion, noting the expressions of each on looker. None of them alarmed him, then again most of the Heinlein's probably didn't know what Kirk was saying and couldn't hear the translation that was spoken in hushed tones. What did alarm him was the way Kiele looked. On the walk to the building she had been silent, now she looked completely terrified. The change was enough to cause an uneasy feeling in the pit of Spock's stomach. Something that would have been a minor annoyance to most beings sent off warning bells in the Vulcans head.

"Captain, it is my duty to inform you that I do not believe this is the best course of action. It is highly possible that there is another way to deal with the situation." Spock kept his voice low so that the translators-now watching him with an ice cold gaze-couldn't hear the exchange.

"Too late for that now, isn't it?" Spock wasn't the only one who noticed the looks they were now getting and the way Kiele was reacting.

The Prime Minister turned to speak with his ambassadors in hushed tones-that really made no sense to Kirk because it's not like anyone from the Enterprise could listen in on what they were saying, but maybe it was for the sake of the few Heinlein's in hearing range-for what felt like a lifetime but in reality was no more than a couple minutes. Finally the alien directed his attention back to his translator, indicating that the message should be passed along to Kirk.

"If the Captain and the lady could now follow us, please." The translator made it clear that they were the only ones to follow by eyeing other members of the crew.

"I would advise against this course of action." Spoke immediately protested, earning himself a small glare from the translator.

Kirk hesitated, weighing his options. If he denied to follow the Prime Minister and demanded that the marriage be ended on the spot it could lead to the destruction of the relationship between the planet and the Federation. As much as he didn't like walking into a situation blind-and Kirk hated it no matter how many times he was forced to do it-this was one of the scenarios where the Captain really didn't have any other choice.

"Spock, you're in charge until I get back." Offering the Vulcan a bright grin that hid any of the doubt that Kirk was feeling, he followed behind the Prime Minster with the two ambassadors ushering Kiele along after him.

It wasn't until after he was led into a questionably dimly lit hallway that Kirk started to regret his decision. Any and all chances to voice said concern were cut abruptly short when something was slammed against the back of his head.

Spock called this one was the last thought that crossed Kirk's mind as his knees caved underneath his weight.

He was unconscious before he hit the ground.