Chapter 7-

"Not that shirt."

Her brow furrowed. "You don't like it?"

"Not today."

Her hands moved to another one with a high collar but he shook his head and pointed instead to one with a low, scooped neck. If it hadn't been specifically designed to display her Bond mark, it did the job well enough.

She swallowed and tears welled in her eyes. "Leonard I don't..."

He carded his fingers through his hair, the other hand clenching and unclenching. "Don't make me insist honey."

"Leonard please..."

Feeling like the worst kind of bastard Bones pushed her down to the floor so she knelt in front of him. Out of habit and biology she tilted her head into the presentation pattern he had taught her. It was a position he knew would release all those Omega hormones she was primed up to produce—a cocktail of chemicals straight to her brain, all telling her to do what he said. After a long moment he pulled her to her feet and with a hard swallow she went to put on her bra and the scoop-necked shirt.

She came back to him once it was on and he wiped away the tears and kissed her deeply and gently. "There is my good, sweet girl."

"They're all going to know," she whispered against his shirt.

They were going to know anyway, he thought. Carol and Vicky were Alphas. They'd smell the Bond on her before she walked through the door. Like him they had a sharper than average sense of smell, even for Alphas, and unlike the crew of the Enterprise they were not expecting to smell him on her. Covering it up would do nothing but make them think she was ashamed of it, raising more questions instead of fewer.

Was that the real reason though? It had been excruciating for him to allow her to even leave his quarters with her Bond concealed. His hormone levels were sky high, even nearly a week later and her presence was like a throbbing wound in his consciousness. He was aware of her at all times. How her body was in relation to his, to other Alphas, to other Betas was something he couldn't stop himself from calculating and recalculating. The effort not to reach for her continuously was exhausting.

They packed in silence and he shouldered both their duffels. She wouldn't look at him as they boarded a transport and made their way to the transporter pad. "Ready?" The technician asked.

"Ready." He answered for both.

They rematerialized facing a painting of an frontier-era farmhouse fading into the forest and the words 'WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI!' scrawled over it in letters made to look like a lasso. "Come on down and welcome to Mississippi." The new technician greeted them.

They walked down the steps and out through the gates, through security and into an open-air waiting room. "Len! Len!" A young woman was barreling down the length of the terminal towards them. With a little hopping skip of a jump she threw herself into his arms, almost knocking him over and he swung her around once before letting her down.

"Oh my lord you get uglier every time I see you! I'm so excited you're finally here! Took you long enough!" She shot a glance at Christine. "Who's the looker? My God, you said you were bringing a guest, you never said you were bringing a damn beauty queen. Yeesh, girl is going to start a brawl at Two Rails if she don't mind where she swings those hips! But come along quickly now. Tom is probably double parked and getting angrier with me by the second. Why me you ask? Lord only knows. I guess he thinks I'm in control of the damn transporters!" She laughed at her own joke and stuck out her hand to Christine. "Hi there I'm Vicky, Len's sister."

"Christine Chapel."

"And how exactly did Leonard manage to swindle a pretty, Yankee girl like you into coming to join us in these godforsaken Mississippi backwaters Christi..." She trailed off her question though. She'd come around to Christine's other side to shake her hand and as she tried to cast a sly glance at her and for the first time the Bite on Christine's neck. Her eyebrows shot up! "Oh shit! Leonard is that what I think it is?"

"Well it ain't face paint if that what you're asking.

Vicky laughed a little nervously. "Fuck. Mom is going to have a stroke when she sees this." She threw her head back and cackled at that. "I can't wait!"

"Oh Vick, just shut up will you. You're making Christine nervous."

She turned to Christine. "Oh don't worry about that. She's gonna like you just fine. She liked Helen after all and you seem like you can't possibly be one hundredth the cunt she was. But she might take a swing at Leonard when she sees that." She pointed at Christine's Bond Mark. "How old are you anyway?"

"I'm twenty-three."

Vicky's face split in a wide grin. "Oh hell yeah! Leonard you dirty old bastard! This weekend just got a whole fuck of a lot more interesting. And to think just yesterday I was praying for one of those idiot sisters of ours to announce another goddamn baby just so your mom would stop giving me those damn furtive-yet-hopeful looks already."

"Oh just tell mom to fuck off about that already."

"You tell mom to fuck off about that for all the good it will do any of us! You know she's got too much sense to listen to anyone she shares this much DNA with."

"Well if she won't listen to you she sure as shit won't listen to me. You were always far and away her favorite."

"Oh please! Everyone knows that in Monica McCoy's bookkeeping the winingest daughter is the pregnantest daughter and I'm still a complete goose egg on that front. I keep telling your damn brother-in-law to just go ahead and shove a baby right on up there but I think he's got wax in his ears or something. Ahhhh Tom's an idiot."

It was often hard for Alpha-Alpha couples to conceive. The hormone balance was hard to get right for an egg to take and many tried for years before they finally had a child. It was one of a number of reasons they were so rare.

"Anyway but it's great to have you here you Christine. Particularly if you're going to be such a darling element of chaos this weekend. Keep the surprises rolling I say, let's burn this mother down!"

Up ahead in the line of cars a door opened and a tall, blond man got out of the driver's side. "What the fuck Vicky! What did you go in there to rebuild the goddamn transporter pad?"

"Yeah Tom, it was a good thing I was there too or they never would have gotten through. All those mechanics standing around scratching their heads and they were like, "you, hey you! Girl over there standing around with her thumb up her butt, wanna take a crack at this?" and I was like "oh hell I ain't got nothing better to do." So I climbed on down in there and took one swing at the machine with a hammer and whatyaknow, presto! The damn thing turns on again. I was a goddamn hero Tom. You wanna kiss your wife and congratulate her?"

But Tom wasn't paying attention to her. In the hustle and bustle of the terminal Vicky hadn't been able to pick out Christine's scent right away. But out on the tarmac there were far fewer people and Tom has zeroed in on her with a laser precision. "Who is that?"

Leonard stepped subtly between them. "Christine Chapel," he answered for her.

Tom took a long look at the two of them then turned his attention to Leonard. He shook his brother-in-law warmly by the hand. "Welcome home Len! Jesus it's good to see you! God you don't know how it gets around here when I'm the only man in sight."

He threw their duffel into the back of the truck and Tom turned it on. The big, turbo engine roared to life beneath them and they were back off down familiar country roads. Vicky talked almost non-stop as they drove, pausing her constant stream of local news (who was pregnant, who was newly married, who had a baby and who's cow had gotten eaten by coyotes) only to harshly critique Tom's driving.

Though the backseat was spacious enough for the two of them Christine pressed against him, almost flush under his arm. He could tell that she was feeling uncertain, intimidated by Vicky and Tom and being in a new place. He didn't like the idea that he was taking advantage of her fear to break her bad mood but there was no doubt that she was becoming more pliable. She'd refused to look at him since he'd insisted that she wear the shirt. But now she slid her arms around his waist and pressed a soft, appeasing kiss to his neck, breathing his scent in deeply. He put his hand on her thigh, enjoying the feel of her smooth, warm flesh under his thumb as he caressed her.

"You're a good girl, honey." He told her under the stream of patter from the front seat.

She looked up at him sharply, almost as if she suspected him of making fun of her. But when she saw that he was serious she gave him a small smile. "You're not so bad yourself."

"I could do better."

"So could we all."

Soon enough they'd arrived though at Leonard's childhood home. Christine raised her eyebrows at him as they pulled into the long driveway lined with sugar maples and she caught her first sight of the Blue House, as the family called it. It was an enormous plantation-style mansion, complete with a stable, a wrap-around porch, french-style balconies and an enormous weeping willow down by the back pond with a swing beneath. In living memory it had never been Blue but it must have been once to get the name. For all of Leonard's life it had been painted a creamy white with green shutters and trimming.

"What were you expecting? A one room cabin?"

"I would have guessed that before this," she admitted.

Leonard didn't like to talk about the fact that his family came from money. He was sure Christine had never wanted for anything but he doubted that she was as wealthy as he was. If he'd wanted to he would never have had to work a day in his life, and for some reason that made him feel oddly ashamed. He had gone out and made something of himself, become a Doctor, joined Star Fleet, saw combat even, but he'd never needed to. He could have lived a perfectly comfortable life without lifting a finger, or leaving Mississippi.

A girl who had been playing along the driveway was running up to greet them. "Uncle Len!" She jumped and he caught her, twirling her around before tossing her into the air and catching her again.

He brought her to his hip and grinned. "Susana I swear you get prettier every time I see you. Do you think someday I could be as pretty as you?"

She considered for a moment and then shook her head. "Probably not."

He laughed. "Come here and give me a kiss anyway."

She pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Did you bring me a present Uncle Len?"

"Might have. Have you been good enough to deserve one?"

She shrugged and started to answer when the screen door banged open and out came three boys of about seven to nine and a girl of about five. Leonard was swarmed. The boys wanted to know if he'd killed anyone. The girl wanted to know if he'd met any more princesses. He put Susana on his shoulders and waded through. "Come on you guys, time for me to go see your grandmother."

He reached back and offered Christine his hand which she took, allowing him to lead her up the stairs and into the house. "Who is that Uncle Len?" Susana asked.

"This is Christine, she's a friend of mine."

"Is she your girlfriend?" Susana's look was appraising.

"Yes she is."

"Does that mean that you'll never be married to Aunt Helen again?"

"There are a lot of reasons that I'll never be married to Aunt Helen again. Christine has got nothing to do with that though."

He had to duck down low to keep Susana from banging her head as he went through the last door to the kitchen, where he knew he would find his mother. It smelled like peach pie and dumplings and home when he stepped through.

"Is that my only son standing so tall in my doorway?"

"Hello ma." He came and kissed her on the cheek.

Monica McCoy was tall and willowy, only an inch or two shorter than her son. She had always been beautiful—fine, balanced features and the expressive, warm eyes that he had inherited—and none of that had diminished as she aged. She kissed Leonard back and gave him an appraising look. "You look better than usual, though tired." She glanced at Christine. "Is this the friend you told us you were bringing?"

"Yes. Mom, meet Christine Chapel. Christine, this is my mother, Monica McCoy."

Christine came forward with a flustered smile. "It's lovely to meet you Ms. McCoy. Thank you for inviting me into your lovely home."

Monica was staring at Christine's Mark however and she didn't look as though she'd heard a word the girl had said. Susana noticed it for the first time too. "Uncle Len, what happened to Christine's neck? Did she hurt herself?"

It was Monica who answered though. "Never you mind child. Kids, go run along and play outside. You've been cooped up here all day."

Len let her down and Susana dashed off to do as she was told, hot on the trail of the others. Monica came forward and wiped her fingers on her apron. She looked to Leonard for a nod of approval before she took Christine's chin in her fingers and tilted her head to the side to inspect the mark. "I see," she said finally. "I guess we won't be needing the guest bedroom after all." To Christine she added gently. "Welcome to the Blue House Christine, you can call me Monica if you would like."

"I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance Monica."

"Leonard why don't you go show Christine where you'll be spending the weekend and get her settled in. Lunch will be ready shortly and the girls are setting up the picnic table on the lawn. Do you like southern food Christine?"

"Oh yes Ms... I mean Monica."

"Well that's fine then."

He showed her upstairs to his old bedroom, an enormous room that, over the years had been reclaimed by his mothers tastes. There were still remnants of the teenage Leonard, a poster for a punk band in the closet and the name of an old girlfriend carved into the wood of the windowsill, but for the most part it looked like something right out of Country Homes.

"Somehow this wasn't what I was expecting."

"Hmmm? Oh yeah, ma redecorated a bit."

"No I mean this... this whole thing: You, home."

"What did you expect?"

"I'm not sure that's the right question. It's more what I didn't expect that surprised me."

"Fine, I'll bite. What didn't you expect?"

"Vicky. The children. Your mother. How you interact with them."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...I mean...I shouldn't have said anything... I just... I guess I didn't know that was possible is all." She stood, having finished her task, but she wouldn't meet his gaze. "I shouldn't have said anything. I just feel so ignorant when it comes to all this stuff, with secondary gender and all."

"Come here."

She came and stood by the bed. He caught her hand and jerked her down beside him, rolling her under him in a single, fluid motion. She gasped, squealed in surprise but allowed him to loom over her. He brushed the hair from her face and gazed down at her. "You can ask me anything you like."

She cupped his cheek with her hand, running her fingers over his stubble almost fondly. The weight of his body on hers was making her pupils dilate. She wasn't shaking anymore either from the stress of the new place and the new faces. She drew her fingers languidly over his lips. "Leonard, where is your father?"

"He died. About ten years ago."

"I didn't think it was possible for a Bonded Omega like your mother to outlive her Alpha... without suppressants I mean. "

"Sometimes it isn't. It's easier with children, particularly with my mother being as devoted to us as she is. I don't think it occurred to any of us that she would follow him, much as she loved him, and leave us." He hesitated, knowing he was on dangerous territory. "I think he was more in love with her than she was with him. She loved him to be sure but she never doted on him in the way he always did with her. He was her Alpha but she was his universe."

Her brow winkled. "I thought that Alphas were supposed to be the distant ones, and Omegas the more besotted ones."

"It isn't as simple as that. In heat there is no question who is in the dominant role. Outside of that though, it is less clear. Even between Alphas and Omegas there is a human component that has to be resolved. There is always someone who is more in love in any relationship or more dependent on the other in some way. It isn't necessarily the Alpha."

She thought about that for a moment—thought about them, he could tell. "But normally it is?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea honey. I really don't."

For some reason he felt like something strange and wriggling was trying to twist up in his chest just then, like a worm burrowing into his organs and viscera, as he lay looking down on her upturned face. It was an unpleasant if not unwelcome feeling. He disliked it and yet... and yet he couldn't quite bring himself to wish it would stop. The strangling, constricting feeling in his chest felt like it had been there all along and he had only just noticed it.

He wanted to press his face into her Mark and scent her, bite her again and then perhaps slump against her chest in exhaustion. It wasn't a specifically sexual feeling. He wasn't imaging rut, but he wanted the comfort of her blood across his tongue and a fresh wound. He felt tired more than anything else. If he bit her she would let him fall asleep like this, head pillowed on her breast. She frowned up at him. "Leonard, are you alright?"

He rolled off of her so they were side-by-side on their backs, staring up at the like ceiling like cliched star-gazing lovers. "Just suddenly a little sleepy. Maybe I could use a nap." His arm was still beneath her head and with that hand he stroked her hair gently, "that explains what you found strange about my mother. What about Vicky and the kids?"

"Just the way you are with them I suppose."

"What do you mean."

"It's hard to explain. You're just so free... so caring. I don't often see you like that, not on the Enterprise. I know that as CMO you have to act a certain way, I really do. It's just interesting to see you in moments where you're so... unguarded." She blushed deeply but persisted nonetheless. "It's nice... It's just not maybe a side I see a lot of in you, in the sickbay."

"As the CMO I have to..."

"I know, I know, you can't coddle us. It wasn't a critique, only an observation."

"Do I need to apologize for all the times I shouted at you Christine?"

She turned, folding her hands under her cheek to look at him. "No Leonard, of course not."

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye but the bright, clear blue eyes seemed open and sincere. "Thank you again for coming to the wedding. I know it wasn't really your choice but..."

She shook her head. "No, it was my choice. You offered to stay aboard the Enterprise, I told you I would come anyway."

Your newly-minted Alpha was asking you for a favor honey, what did I think you would say?

She seemed to know what he was thinking. A slight frown touched her lips. "I would have... that is to say, I didn't feel like..." She began but trailed off when a knock sounded on the door.

"Uhg love birds. Stop doing whatever gross Alpha-Omega shit you're doing in there and come down to lunch. Everyone's waiting for you and they definitely think you're fucking." Vicky's voice informed them through the door. "I think mom's head is going to explode if she tries any harder not to visualize it."

Leonard laughed and stood to open the door. "You've always thought that everyone else has your same puerile sensibilities but it just isn't true. You're imagining things."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on down to lunch Christine! Mom's corn bread is the best you'll ever have."

AN: What do you think will happen next at the wedding? What do you think of them as a couple now that they're bonded? Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I've been so busy recently... inspire/guilt me to get the next chapter out quickly please!