All Good Things
Chapter Fifty-four - Chasing Down the Halls
On Board the Enterprise
November 2277
McCoy
As he ate his breakfast, his eyes scanned about the mess hall, idly watching his crewmates. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary this morning. That is, except for the huge breakfast Nyota was eating. The morning sickness she had experienced with her other pregnancies did not seem to have affected her this time, and he was sure she was extremely thankful for that, but if she kept eating at this rate, he would have to caution her about pacing her weight gain. Although to look at her, she did not appear to have gained much weight yet, even with the amount of breakfast she packed away each morning.
At the next table, two of the Vulcan couples were eating. What was his name? Yes, Pevek. Nice chap. Scotty spoke highly of him. And his wife was T'Bel, who worked in the medical lab. They were one of the couple that got married in that spate of marriages at the beginning of the year. Hmm. About time for their physicals, wasn't it? Have to check on that when he got to his office. The other couple was Tilek and T'Cila. He had gone through his first Pon Farr last month, and she had come in to have her pregnancy officially noted just last week. He had duly informed their quarters configuration expert, T'Vela, that the couple needed enlarged quarters, with a nursery and laundry facilities. With a year's lead time, she had plenty of opportunity to finagle the mandated space.
Across the table, Tamara watched her husband's eyes roaming around the room and suppressed her amusement. He just had a hard time turning that analytical mind completely off. She wondered what it was exactly that had caught his attention at the next table, but now was not the time to ask. Instead, she asked Nyota where they were going to put the new baby. Nyota's fork stopped half way to her mouth, and her face turned to Spock. "New baby room? Spock?"
Her husband looked back calmly. "I have already spoken to T'Vela about this. It appears that we shall have to move into new quarters, configured just for us. Our family has outgrown the anticipated size in the standard configurations."
"Move? We have to move? Everything?" Nyota looked completely shocked.
"Do not worry. We shall have assistance. And Grayson and Amanda are old enough to pack their own belongings. And you will have a kitchenette."
At those words, Nyota's face lit up. "Really? Oh, Spock, how wonderful!"
Tamara was jealous. All she had was a synthesizer. She snuck a look across the table at Len. Maybe it was time to increase the size of their family. She would certainly like a kitchenette. Maybe triplets? How could she insure that?
.
Being diverted from her interest in what had caught his eye, she didn't remember to ask him until lunchtime. And then he just shook his head absently, and said he wasn't sure. It wasn't until the events of the late afternoon that he remembered seeing Pevek's hands trembling slightly as he ate his breakfast.
.
After breakfast, T'Bel headed for the medical lab for her normal shift. She had trouble focusing on her work for some reason today. Every few minutes she found herself stepping away from the table, as though to leave the lab. And she felt much too warm, even though the room was its usual temperature, which normally felt cool to her. She wasn't sure what was wrong, but something certainly was.
And then Pevek did not show up for lunch. With no explanation. And was very irritated with her when she tried to query him over their link. Which was unheard of. She began to worry. Perhaps she should go and speak with one of the other Vulcans.
Unfortunately, she decided to wait until after her shift was over. Which was far too late.
.
In the Engineering Lab, things went strangely that day. Pevek, ordinarily calm and collected, seemed to startle at every slight sound. Not only that, but he dropped things, and bored a hole completely through the dilithium crystal mounting he was repairing. Kurik came by to see whether several components brought to the lab the day before were ready for testing, and found that one of them was in even worse condition than it had been when he brought it in. It seemed to have suffered an intense heat blast, which had melted parts of it. He was stunned, never having experienced anything like this before. When he asked Pevek for an explanation, the other man began screaming and stormed out of the lab. In the twenty four point three seconds that it took Kurik to realize what had happened, Pevek had disappeared from view.
Kurik quickly went to the nearest comlink and contacted Commander Spock. An all ship alert was sounded, and everyone began to look for Pevek. Pevek, however, was hiding.
.
Pevek was sure that people were hunting him down, but he was smart and could avoid them. They would not catch him. They may have hidden his bondmate from him, but he would find her and free her. He slunk along corridors, peeking around corners before venturing out into intersections, and darting into storerooms and darkened labs when his pursuers came too close. He could hear them talking into their wristcoms, reporting their leads, but all they ever saw of him was a shadow darting away.
For four hours, he led them on the chase, until tempers were beginning to be short, and retaliation was not far from the minds of some of those attempting to find him. And then he felt something, calling him. What was that? He stopped, turning his head from side to side. The pull was strong. He must go in that direction. He headed out at a fast pace, which soon turned into a smooth lope, changing from one corridor to another in order to keep himself headed in the correct direction. Now his pursuers caught glimpses of him, as he passed their positions too swiftly for them to react. And now that they knew where he was, they began to close in, to block off pathways, to herd him where he needed to go. But their work was all for naught, for he knew exactly where he was going, and went there as fast as he could, his pace accelerating continuously until he stood before a door that he recognized, even in the state that he was in. This was his own quarters. He laid his hand on the touchplate, and the door swooshed open and he caught her scent. He was after her in an instant, swiftly chasing her down the short hallway and into the dimly light room they had prepared. And there she allowed him to catch her, and bear her down to the thick pad on the floor, and he forgot everything else in the world except her.
The teams in the corridors congratulated themselves on herding him in the right direction, totally unaware that their actions had had nothing to do with it. Spock came, and sealed their door, until they should exit from their quarters on their own, so that none would disturb them. And then he sent everyone away, and headed for his own quarters, relieved that the potential for disaster had been avoided once again.
