Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I'm glad that you all enjoyed. You are all lovely. Thank you. Sorry, this chapter was delayed by doing grown-up things such as taxes.
Chapter 25: Between Us
To survive this world, make a plan and don't be upset when life decides not to follow it. Chapter 2 of The Idiots Guide to Family Bonding, revised third edition.
"Are you okay? What did the doctor say? Did they figure out why you're having headaches? Are you having an allergic reaction to our favorite touch telepath?" James asked Nyota the moment they stepped foot in the parking garage underneath Starfleet medical. Spock is surprised he waited this long. The entire time they were in the office, James was pacing anxiously across the small waiting room. He was quite upset that they were not allowed to meet with the doctor which resulted in him cursing the doctor several times.
"No, I'm not allergic to Spock. Yes, she could figure out what's going on. I'm fine." Nyota said as she pressed her thumb against the car's reader to unlock it. Her words would have been more convincing if she did not wince as she spoke.
"I don't think that's a medical opinion. You should probably sit in the back so you can lie down." James suggested which is for the best because Spock prefers to drive when Nyota is unwell. Nyota agreed because she did crawl into the back of the car, leaving the driver seat for him.
"I am inclined to agree with James." Spock said as he sat down in the driver's seat.
"It's nothing serious. The headaches are a residual effect of going off my birth-control. My hormones are just a little out of whack which is triggering the headaches." And obviously, the stress regarding her father is making the situation worse. Spock felt it imprudent to mention that. Spock also felt it most prudent to not mention the fact he was certain that Nyota was not being entirely honest. He just felt like there was something she wasn't saying. Her language and tone seemed very guarded and he was picking up a sense of worry from her despite the lack of physical contact. "Also, the therapeutic mind melds that we have been doing were not a contributing factor, except for the fact that we haven't been doing them lately. The melds were actually keeping the headaches away before."
"That's good. Mind meld sex is awesome." Nyota responded with a glare at James words. "I mean, I'm sorry that my desire to have children someday is giving you headaches in the present.
"Did she say anything else?" Spock asked once he started the car and began to make his way out of the parking garage.
"That I am not my counterpart, and therefore, my mind is capable of forming a psychic bond between us." Spock is relieved. He loves Nyota and he does want to be with her completely and is pleased with the possibility of that eventually occurring. He did not want to contemplate the other possibility.
James responds by turning around to kiss Nyota.
"See, we are not the same people that we are in the other timeline. Life is not predestined. We get to make all our own screw ups." James said pulling away from her. Spock would like to join in, but he must keep his attentions focused on driving. It is advantageous that he is part Vulcan otherwise he would have missed a stop signal.
"Now, Sarek will at least get to plan one bonding ceremony since apparently we did the Vulcan shotgun wedding sort of thing."
"Vulcan culture never had any weapon that resembled a Terran shotgun." Spock said poignantly.
"Baby, it's an expression. Apparently, this must be the dimension you two are crazy in, if you think I'm going to do any type of actual ceremony. Besides that may not be…" Nyota paused momentarily before saying something different than what she was obviously planning to say before. "If Jim didn't have to do a formal ceremony than I'm not. Always said that we would be fair in this relationship."
"Which is probably for the best because you know your father would probably invite every ambassador in the Federation." James joked, Spock thinks.
"I doubt that, due to the fact we could never find a venue to house that many." Spock remarked.
"Obviously, your sense of humor is a universal constant. Maybe we're in a parallel dimension." Jim suggested. "From what I've gleaned from a certain cryptic Vulcan that we know and love in one form anyway, Sam being an abusive 'selling his child into slavery' prick is something exclusive to this dimension."
"I could quote experts from a recent article on quantum mechanics and interdimensional theory, but …"
"Only Jim finds that sexy." Nyota interjected.
"I also believe your alternate dimension theory to be 83% more probable. For example, I have been informed that Ensign Chekov is four years older in this timeline" Spock said poignantly.
"Don't forget the old guy did practically choke on his tongue when I told him about Sulu's new husband and subsequent baby plans. That means that differences have to be triggered by something other than just the Kelvin incident." James states.
"Vulcans do not choke on their tongues, or otherwise."
"I don't know. I think I did a really excellent job of choking you on my cock the other night." James said as he placed his hands on Spock's upper thigh.
"Not recently. Please keep your hands to yourself when I am driving."
"Babies are sleep depriving. We should take a baby moon. That way I can touch you both as inappropriately as I want to without having to take a break for diaper duty or getting walked in on by the stepmom." James said as he reluctantly removed his hand.
"I think you usually do that before the babies are born. Also, we were in Iowa just a couple weeks ago. I also have a midterm to write." Nyota responded.
"Iowa does not count as relaxing by any definition of the word. You're also constantly throwing up due to stress. A break would be good. Spock, please back me up with some statistics." Considering the look Spock saw in the rear-view mirror, he decided to stay silent.
"Due to a hormone imbalance." That statement caused James to turn around to look at Nyota.
"Okay, some of it may be stress, but you have to admit that the last few months have been stressful. Both of you have almost died multiple times since February."
"I don't know if it should count as multiple times when it was only two apiece." James received another glare for that statement. "We all need a vacation. Okay, maybe not now, but what about at Christmas. We'll have a couple of weeks off before you to have to go back to classes and Spock and I get to start heavy prep for Enterprise's relaunch. We have like 600 positions to fill. This will be so much fun." James lamented.
"I never have fun reading through thousands of resumes despite my eidetic memory." Spock despised it. If he was willing to admit that he could feel any emotion that strongly.
"Nice to know you hate it too. By that point, Arlene should have the hang of mommy duty and probably of a Vulcan boyfriend." Or fiancé. Spock has already had to point out the finer nuances of Vulcan dating etiquette. The two were already at the making out stage, even if Spock was the only one aware that such constant hand stroking meant such a thing.
"You don't have to commit now because Mister perfect Vulcan can probably put signs together in like an hour when it would be good to just get away from everything. We could leave the planet or maybe at least the country. There's this Christmastime tradition of going back home. Nyota, since I'm never going to go back to Iowa again and…
"The planet of my childhood no longer exists," Spock added after James paused.
"I was trying to find a polite way to say that."
"I don't think there is a polite way to say that." Nyota added, "Also, if you suggest going to Pretoria for Christmas, Jamie is going to become your roommate permanently."
"I was going to suggest Christmas in Melbourne or somewhere else in Australia. I had several Christmases in Iowa. I would like to be somewhere where it's not snowing." Spock wondered if that was a last-minute change in what he was intending to say.
"Sarah still has a house there, but you forget that by December you're going to have another small child that you're helping with, two actually. Don't you have another doctor's appointment that you have to be at in an hour?"
"I told Christine that I would be busy with you all day." Jim explained.
"And how many not nice text messages have you received in the interim?" Nyota asked just as his phone buzzed again.
"I think that might be number 17." James said with a groan. "I still think she's completely nuts and ridiculously needy."
"Okay, you're going. Aren't you glad the condom never broke with her?" Nyota snickered.
"Yes. From now on, you will be the only pregnant woman I will spend quality time with at an OB/GYN with." From rear view mirror, he could see Nyota smile at that.
"I better be." She replied.
"You don't have to take the entire day off." Nyota told him as she removed the crayon from their formally pristine white couch. After dropping James off for Admiral Pike's appointment, they returned to their home. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. Also, if I didn't throw up on the drive here, I think I can be left unsupervised."
"I only have office hours for the rest of the day. Considering my officemate's tendency to blare loud music, I will be more productive here." It was at that moment they heard Jamie crying from the nursery.
"Yes, I'm sure you will be more productive with the screaming, barely a week-old baby in the house. Just because Dr. Weston said that meld sex helped with the headaches does not mean I'm doing it with you with small children in the house during the middle of the day. Actually, you're not getting near my head anytime soon."
"I'm aware. I would still rather be here." He placed a hand on her shoulder, underneath the fabric of her blouse. He decided it was time to apply a Vulcan technique for leaving pain. He's not surprised that Nyota felt a combination of happy, fearful, nervous, worried and confused. These have been the emotions he has been feeling a lot from Nyota recently. Although Spock is pleased that happy is the primary emotion.
"You really dislike your office at Starfleet Academy, don't you?" Nyota asked as she leaned into his touch.
"Yes. I even prefer the office that we had previously to the relocation." Mostly because James was with him, but he did not feel the need to clarify.
"That bad? Okay, keep touching me because the headache is halfway gone." Nyota moaned. "I'm not myself for being mad at you for the last couple of days because this is really helpful."
"Despite Starfleet regulation 6.3 A which requires all Starfleet faculty to be in uniform always when on duty, including during office hours he constantly sits at his desk without his regulation top." His statement caused Nyota to start laughing.
"Well, is he at least hot?" She asked with a snicker.
"Literally, yes, because he's quite sweaty. Figuratively? No. He is actually quite hairy." Spock remarked.
Nyota turned around to look at him, "Which you would be too if I had not introduced you to the wonders of waxing. Is it possible that he has his shirt off all the time because you have the office on Vulcan comfortable? Jim and I are used to it and it gives us an excuse to always sleep naked before we had little kids around anyway."
"That is irrelevant." Nyota glares at him, although she may be doing that because he stopped his massage.
"Do you not want me here because you are still angry at me for not telling you about the information I gained from your mother regarding the true status of your father's health?" Spock asked.
"I am going to take that crazy subject change as 'yes, I do have the climate control on my office set to tropical sauna'. Look, just put it back on normal temperatures and I'll get you a self-warming sweater. Or three. It is October." She tells him.
"You are still upset with me?"
"No, mostly because you give a good massage." Nyota remarked.
"Do you wish for me to begin again?" Spock asked.
"Yes, but I think De'bo'rah is here too and I really don't want her to walk in on anything a third time."
"Agreed." That situation was quite embarrassing.
"I'm sorry, I acted the way I did the last couple of days. I realize that sometimes you need to keep things to yourself for a little while. I did talk to De'bo'rah last night and we're going to tell Ivy soon. After midterms." Nyota explains. Spock already knew this because Jim decided it was appropriate for them both to listen in on the conversation via the baby monitor. Jim's justification was if things got volatile, they could walk in and rescue Jamie if need be.
"Are you afraid to tell your sister the truth? Is that why you feel so stressed." Spock asked, but he already knew the answer was yes. He could feel it, quite literally.
"Part of it." Nyota answered.
"But there must be more. Your level of distress increased by 15% after your appointment with Dr. Weston this morning. Is there a component of your diagnosis that you have yet to disclose?"
"I'm not dying." He believes that Nyota was trying to make a joke. Spock was not amused. Of course, he rarely is.
"I am relieved to hear that."
"And yes, the doctor did find something else during the examination, but it's not something bad. It's just something I need to digest. I will tell you eventually. And yes, I realize that makes me really hypocritical considering how I've acted in the last few days."
"I'm aware that humans are very hypocritical by nature." Spock remarked.
"We illogical humans thrive on hypocrisy." Nyota leaned over and kissed him. He felt an actual crackle of electricity between them.
"Are you actually displeased that we are able to bond? I know that you dislike the concept of marriage."
"I don't hate the concept of marriage." Spock raises an eyebrow at her in response.
"Okay, I did, but I was pissed at you for the last couple of days and at the same time I'm thinking that when you do get me pregnant, we are so hiring a night nurse. Jamie's cute, but I think the sleep deprivation might be making the headaches worse." This statement was said with Jamie still crying in the background.
"What did the doctor say regarding this?"
"I kind of forgot to mention it. Although I'm sure Leonard knows we are helping Jim raise his daughter. He obviously accounted for it during initial diagnosis."
"Technically, niece." Spock corrected.
"He's on the birth certificate as the other parent. He has joint custody of Peter as well. I'm pretty sure that once Sam is stripped of his parental rights by the Federation, Jim will be listed as secondary parent."
"That's highly probable."
"But here's the thing, I don't find this terrifying at all. I like it. Before, I didn't date guys with kids. I was also a firm believer in using at least two types of birth control at all times. I mean there's hardly any chance at all of you getting me pregnant without intervention, but I still stayed on the birth control regardless. Now I am changing diapers, making bottles, making more plans to have children later, and that doesn't scare me. I'm looking forward to it. Just the fact I'm making plans is an important thing."
"How does this relate to your evolving opinions on marriage?"
"Marriage is temporary. Children are forever. If I'm okay with children and this new family we've created, then that means I'm ready to commit to us. Anything else is just a formalization of the truth."
"The human marriage is temporary. Vulcan marriage is forever. However, I think I do understand the meaning of your words and I am satisfied with the fact that you are ready for a long-term commitment to this relationship."
"Okay, I think that's a Vulcan lie. Your father is divorced from your half-brother's mom, no matter what type of phrasing you use. Also, I got a ton of literature today on how to break bonds and how to prevent them. It would've been nice if you mentioned that the equivalent of an 'engagement' bond can be created with repetitive mind melding without outside assistance." He didn't need to be touching her to realize there was a vast amount of sarcasm in her words. But why? Also, why was she given literature on how to break a Vulcan bond?
"Bonds should only be severed in the case of great neglect or spousal abuse or the other party chooses to join the priesthood which was the case with my father's first spouse. Yes, spousal abuse exists or rather did exist on Vulcan despite how illogical it was."
"I'm aware that Vulcans are nowhere near as logical as they claim to be. Although a warning would've been nice, unless you didn't know that it was possible to form a bond through repetitive melding?"
"A bond created through repetitive melding without the aid of a mind healer can only occur if both parties want the bond to form, at least subconsciously. Such a bond could not happen if both parties did not want it to happen, which is why such bonding is quite rare on Vulcan… In Vulcan culture. The statistical probability is even lower in our case due to my biology. Which is why I did not bring up the possibility."
"What are the exact numbers?" Nyota asked.
"Considering your recent diagnosis, 1 in 999,000. It was one and 193.2 million previously."
"I've always felt that you were one in 1 million." Nyota said cryptically." Also, you don't need to correct yourself. I know what you mean."
"It is illogical to hold on to the past." It has been more than 18 months and he is still adjusting.
"It is. I've been holding on to a lot of baggage. I never saw a functional marriage growing up, which was part of the reason why the institution terrified me so much before."
"We've discussed this previously in relation to your own mother's upcoming nuptials." Usually it comes up whenever Nyota is asked to participate in some aspect of wedding planning.
"I know, but I have a lot to say. So, let me just start at the beginning. You weren't entirely sure that your parents loved each other, but at least you knew that they didn't hate each other. By the time I was 10, I don't even think my parents could be in the same room with each other without it practically turning violent. At some point, I think I resented the ideal of love and happily married couples and fairytales because I didn't have that. It was just a mess of screaming and bitterness." Nyota explained and Spock grabbed her hand in support.
"This is understandable considering the environment in which you grew up."
"It probably would've went better if I knew my two moms were in love with each other, especially because I kind of always wanted my moms to be together." Nyota explains.
"I am aware."
"Then I met you and I fell in love with you, even though I knew that falling in love with your professor is not good. I didn't care because somehow you made me believe that love is real. I needed that."
"My father told me that it was logical to marry my mother because he loved her." Spock strokes her fingers in a kiss.
"Because your father got it. Even then I think somewhere in my head, I thought things would end eventually even if I did love you because I never believed that love was permanent, I never knew that was possible. Due to my A+ in Vulcan cultural studies, I felt like no matter what you would leave me for a proper Vulcan wife someday and that was before I knew you would need a mental connection, just for your very survival. My fears got worse after you became a member of an endangered species. Survival of the species is more important than love."
"I never went into our relationship with the date of termination." Spock wrapped an arm around Nyota.
"I don't think anybody does, but things happen. No, you didn't leave me for Mrs. Perfect Vulcan, but you fell in love with someone else and I fell in love with someone else."
"Fortunately, it was the same individual." Spock remarked.
"Thank the universe for Jim Kirk's charms and grace. It wasn't that we fell out of love with each other, maybe it was just that we had too much love for just each other. Thankfully we met this other person that filled up all the other empty spaces, spaces I didn't even know were empty until we found him. I like where we are. I'm happy I'm in this place. Okay, I might get mad at you and him for doing stupid things like not putting up the toilet seat, but I can deal with 3 AM feedings and everything else."
"You are becoming an expert at mixing formula." Spock quipped.
"Even then, I'm now willing to acknowledge that I was jealous that you and Jim have this connection that we don't have and that I am not going to be able to share with Jim. Or maybe I was worried that I wouldn't be able to have that and eventually both of you would leave. Because despite everything with my dad, I'm happy right now and I don't want to lose that."
"As I stated earlier, I have no specific end date in mind for terminating our relationship unless it involves the date of one of our deaths and I prefer not to consider that possibility." Spock explained.
"Again, you're now aware of how screwed up my childhood was. Love is not permanent, at least that's what my parent's divorce taught me. Of course, I'm going to be terrified of everything falling apart especially when I was pretty much told by your counterpart that a bonding was never going to happen and was the reason why we fell apart in another dimension."
"They are not us."
"No, they're not and we are not my parents. The future is unwritten, but I want it with you and Jim and this family that we've created. I'm even okay with the fact that someday you're going to be able to know how I'm feeling without a word." Nyota tightens her fingers around his as she speaks. He feels her contentment and wonders if he should inform her of that.
"We can have such a bond, if that is something you desire." Spock tells her, because that is something he wants with her.
"I know you want that. More than I did a couple of hours ago." Maybe he does not need to inform her of the fact that he can feel trace amounts of her emotions.
"I do. I do not want to imagine an existence without you or James." Such a reality is something he never wants to contemplate.
"I do want a bonding, at least on a subconscious level. That's what you said earlier, that both parties need to want it for a bond to form through continuous melding."
At that point, Spock remembered his earlier description of the process for a meld bond to form and the fact that he can feel Nyota's emotions and has been for weeks. It is possible that his earlier calculation of the probability of a bond forming naturally via repetitive melding was incorrect. Did such a bond already form between them? Was Nyota informed of this possibility during her session this morning? Was this what she was unable to tell him earlier?
Unfortunately, Spock did not get to voice that question because that is when Nyota's sister arrived.
"You're supposed to be in class?" Nyota said turning to her sister as she walked through the front door. Spock is quite thankful he ended his massage earlier, otherwise he would need a throw pillow to strategically place over his genitalia.
"We are doing review sheets and I really don't want to spend any more time around my classmates. Right before midterms is not the time for a kegger." Ivy said taking the seat next to Nyota. "People get more mature once there in space, right?"
"Usually. Jim's getting better." Nyota told her sister. Spock chose not to mention the incident involving three members of the engineering staff, an unofficial distillery in engineering that Spock was not supposed to know about, and an explosion. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, just vast amounts of property damage.
"Jim has kids now." Ivy pointed out. "Kids are like maturity in a bottle for most people. Not dad, but most normal people." Nyota's eyes focused on the carpet when her father was mentioned.
"True. I hope that means that Sulu will stop having fencing matches with various crew members in the hallways." That was another incident report that Spock does not want to remember.
"I thought you said it got better. Operations officers 'practicing' for their practical exams in the hallway is the other reason why I'm fleeing to your house. That sign that you got me for my door is gone."
"I promise it will get better after the freshman purge. Although, just in case, I'll have my mom or Jim make some calls and get you moved to one of the other class dorms next semester."
"Yes, to the upperclassman rooms, and thank God the idiots will be gone soon." Ivy said happily.
"There is no actual purge, just 20% of incoming Starfleet freshman did not return for their second year due to insufficient academic performance." Spock explains before mentally deciding to help with securing a new dorm room for Ivy.
"That's so comforting." Spock believes Ivy's words were sarcastic. "How was your doctor's appointment? Any playmates in my future?"
"The only nieces and nephews you're getting anytime soon, are the ones that Jim adopts."
"Admiral Pike looks ready to pop so I'll have new playmates soon."
"I didn't play with you enough as a child?" Nyota asked slightly concerned.
"Because we weren't allowed to play. Remember when she who will not be named burned all my Barbie dolls?" This explains why Ivy has a box of said dolls that she keeps in their apartment. She said that they're to play with Peter, but Spock now believes otherwise. Nyota's response was to hug her.
"You're not dying, are you?" Ivy asked pulling out of the hug.
"My body is just having a weird reaction to going off birth control." Ivy smirked at that. "No, that does not mean you're going to get a new playmate soon. That just means there's no point of being on birth control when I'm in a monogamous relationship with two people that cannot get me pregnant without medical intervention."
"Well, it's going to take at least nine months."
"Also, this is not making my headache any better. I'm going to our bedroom to write exams. You deal with her." Nyota said as she leaned over to kiss Spock gently on the lips before getting up.
'I don't want to be alone around her right now because I may tell her about dad and I'm not ready too.'
Spock heard that thought very clearly. Therefore, he was 99% certain that a mental bond has formed between Nyota and himself.
"Moments like these make me almost wish I was an only child." Nyota said departing.
"She would absolutely be hated, but you would know for sure." Ivy remarked as she pulled out her school PADD out of her backpack.
"No, I would not because I am not an only child. My father had another son from a previous relationship prior to my conception. He is no longer among the living."
"I'm sorry." Ivy told him sincerely. "I would hug you, but I think my sister, future brother-in-law and the babies are the only ones allowed to do that."
"Your condolences are appreciated, but not necessary. We were never close. He tried to smother me as a child." In addition to several other incidents that Spock does not desire to discuss.
"I guess I got lucky regarding my half siblings. They like me, even the half-brothers, despite the fact our mutual egg donor is extra crazy and psychotic. Remind me never to play 'whose family is more fucked up' with you and Jim because I could lose. You've both had to deal with homicidal siblings, parental death, and a strained relationship with your living parent. It's like my sister is dating my future support group members."
"Technically my relationship with Sarek was strained before my mother's death. It actually improved after we lost her." Spock tells her, not addressing her other comments.
"Was losing your mom hard?" Ivy asked.
"Yes, especially due to the circumstance." He did not just lose Amanda, he almost lost everything associated with her that was not in the San Francisco property.
"I guess just having your parent die due to some random illness is easier to handle than having them die due to a planet destroying terrorist attack." Ivy tried to say it as a joke, but Spock knew better.
"I tried to rescue her. Her hand slipped out of mine, just as we were beamed out moments before disintegration." Spock confessed.
"That had to suck. I've always known that my father is not the best person." Ivy confessed in turn. "I knew about the other girlfriends, even the ones that he was seeing when he was technically married to my egg donor. I tried hard to make sure it didn't happen this time around, because De'bor'ah was better than that. She deserved better than that. Do you know that I kept his office loaded with condoms? Half the school thought that I was a slut because they would see me pick up various prophylactics at the chemist."
"My mother once told me that I am not responsible for the stupidity of others." Spock felt it was best to share this with Ivy.
"And when did she impart this piece of advice to you?"
"When somebody referred to her as a human whore." The first time it happened was when Spock was just a small child.
"So, Vulcan children are assholes too?
"Yes."
"I think your mom was really wise. Those are definitely words to live by."
"And in this case quite applicable, your father choosing to engage in risky behavior led to the current situation. He is responsible for the consequences, not you."
"And yet they still affect me. Nyota doesn't get it. Their relationship has always been bad. But for me, he was the good parent. The one who got me away from she who will not be named and now I'm going to be an orphan. At least you still have your dad. As bad as your relationship was before, it was still better than what I had with my biological mother. At least I think so. He never tried to kill you. Did he?"
"No." Spock answered nonplussed.
"That's good."
"You still have your stepmother who is quite fond of you. She came all the way to San Francisco to support you in your time of need." Spock explains.
"And how will she feel when she finds out that I knew? That I've always known what was going on and I didn't tell her because I was selfish and because I needed her." Ivy confessed. However, at that moment Spock looked up at the doorway to see De'bor'ah standing there with baby monitor in hand. James chose to get the vintage 21st-century ones (with additional PADD streaming) because he wanted something that would not be swallowed by a small child.
"I knew the entire time that he was doing that to me, but I was selfish because I wanted you." Deborah confessed as she walked into the room. Before Ivy could react to her stepmother's words, she was enveloped in a hug.
"Before the wedding, I caught him was someone else, but then I thought of you and the fact you would be all alone and I went through with the wedding. He was never going to take the 'forsake all others" part of our marriage vows seriously and I knew that going in. I want you. I want your sister. I wanted to be part of this family and if that meant looking the other way when your father had a dalliance, I did. I did it because you needed me more than he did." At this point, De'bo'rah was crying.
"We have a listening in problem in this family." Ivy was also crying at this point in the conversation.
"We really do. How did you find out?" De'bo'rah asked.
"I overheard your conversation last night." Ivy confessed. "Jim has baby monitors and nanny cams all over the place."
At this point, Spock felt it best to leave the two women and join Nyota in their bedroom.
"Your sister is aware that your father is dying." Spock said directly when he entered the room.
"Sweetie, sometimes you need to lead into things. Although I already knew." She said holding her PADD, which was streaming the nanny cam that was in the living room. Again, he is not surprised.
"Is it wrong that I'm kind of glad she overheard? I really had no idea what to say and I think that kind of made me frustrated with you yes. Like if you would have just told us both at the same time, then I wouldn't have to deal with it." Nyota confessed.
"No." Spock said as he lay down on the bed next to Nyota and placed an arm around her. He instantly felt her contentment at the touch with sharp clarity.
"When were you going to inform me that that we managed to form a bond while melding?" Spock asked. He was now certain that was the case.
"When I was 100% sure that I did not want to get the bond dissolved before you even realized it was there. However, I decided to keep it after I left you to have your little chat with Ivy." Spock responded by kissing her.
"I am pleased by your choice. Although, if you preferred not to have a bond, I would respect your choice. I gave James the same option." Spock tells her.
"I know and I choose to be Vulcan married to you and possibly eventually legally married to Jim. We'll have to figure out the logistics for that eventually. Wait, how did you not realize it was there?"
"I've been shielding at higher levels than normal lately due to James' distress over his brother's recent actions. James is quite angry." Most of the time. James is full of anger. He is better when he's with Jamie, but still the anger is beneath the surface. This has intensified recently with the revelations about Nyota's father. "I was also not expecting it. The statistical probability of this occurring was quite low."
"Yes, slightly less than one in 1 million. How mad will your dad be that he's not going to get to plan the perfect diplomatic bonding ceremony?" Not very much, because I believe he will be planning his own wedding soon. Much to my personal discomfort.
"If Vulcans did become disappointed, I believe his disappointment would be alleviated by the fact that he will be planning a wedding for his assistant soon."
"Probably. I think I saw a basket full of traditional Vulcan courtship cookies in the kitchen." Nyota said just as her communicator went off.
Hey Jim, you're on speaker. Please tell me I don't have to tell you off after you tried to punch out Christine?" Nyota says in greeting.
"So, it turns out that Nhi is dilated 4 cm." Jim tells them both. Spock is surprised because she has another mouth. "Can you please bring my coaching bag to the hospital?"
To be continued.
Okay I need more baby names for the Pike twins who will be arriving very soon. One of the girls will have the middle name Christopher because in the 23rd century, every name is unisex or at least that's my hope. I'm leaning for both girls having a traditionally male middle name, so keep that in mind when you make suggestions.