Author: Keleshnar
Rating: Pg-13 I think, for upcoming chapters. I might change it, though.
Summary: What if when Vulcan females go through Pon Farr, they not only have to mate, but they also have to conceive?
Spoilers: minor ones for "Future Tense"
Disclaimer: What, you actually think they're mine? I wish so, but unfortunately I'm just borrowing them from UPN and such. I'll try to return them before the next season starts.
A/N: this idea came to me one night, and I just had to go through with it. And thanks to Mana and Faith for beta-ing this.
Archiving: just ask, but definitely Archer's and Endeavors
The first stage of this story has won second place in the Endeavors/Archer's Pon Farr Contest.
Thank you to all of the people who voted!!
Stage One: The Pon Farr
Chapter 1: Curses
It was ironic, she reflected, that one of the things that had saved her race from extinction was a curse to her now. Thousands of centuries of Vulcan females had gone through this exact same thing, this Pon Farr. And thousands of those females had born children – or if they couldn't, they died. It was a very effective way of keeping the race alive and was one reason that they managed to evolve so much. If a female couldn't breed, she died during her first Pon Farr. If a male couldn't breed, his sterile genes weren't passed on to the next generation.
The one thing she was glad of - no, not glad, she corrected herself, gladness was an emotion - the one thing she was fortunate didn't happen was that the chemically induced Pon Farr from that planet wasn't like the true Pon Farr, because the man she would have preferred to choose, had she needed to, wasn't available to her at that time. Except she needed him now, or very soon. She only hoped, for once in her life, that Humans and Vulcans could produce a child, because she did not want to die.
Her mind registered that hope was also an emotion, but she let it slide this time, knowing she was more prone to emotions in her present state. As she sat on the floor in her cabin in her nightclothes, T'Pol tried to meditate yet again. What little the meditation had accomplished earlier was quickly slipping away.
When she had first felt the symptoms of Pon Farr - less control, more emotion – she went to visit Dr. Phlox. The chemically induced Pon Farr evidently had altered her cycle, because it was still too early for her to be going through this, but not dangerously early. When she had told the doctor that, she had almost laughed - it certainly was dangerous, but for a different reason. After that near outburst, she had resolved to meditate much more, and it had also struck her how serious her condition was for the first time.
The doctor had not heard of the second, yet very important, part of female Pon Farr, which didn't surprise T'Pol - it was one of the many things that Vulcans kept to themselves (the first part being mate or die). She had had to inform him of the 'how and why' about this particular aspect of the Vulcan mating ritual. She had told him, "It has been a key evolutionary aspect – during the first Pon Farr of a females life, she has to conceive a child in approximately two weeks or she dies. Obviously, this keeps the Vulcan race alive," she had paused uncomfortably after this part, because she knew that Phlox had every right and need to know more about it, but it was private, "If by the end of the first week a woman has not conceived, a doctor tries the equivalent of an in vitro fertilization and other techniques until either she is pregnant or dead. After the first Pon Farr, women don't necessarily have to become pregnant, but many still do for three or so cycles more."
Dr. Phlox had then asked why some Vulcans still didn't have children, and she had replied, "If a woman and her bondmate do not wish to keep the child, it is aborted, but usually only for special reasons."
Unfortunately, Phlox had caught the part about a bondmate, and gave her a look that showed he understood. She looked down to hide her feelings that were surfacing. She knew that he had figured out that she had foregone the bonding ritual to stay on Enterprise, and if she hadn't, there would be no problem now. Dr. Phlox had given her orders to stay in her cabin for the next two days, thinking the rest would help her, and possibly give her time to find a solution before the Pon Farr gave her its own solution.
So that was where she was now, cursing her Vulcan inheritance. She knew that she'd have to do something soon because she could feel the full heat starting to kick in.
When the dead time traveler had been found to have many species' DNA, including Vulcan and Human, T'Pol had dismissed the thought immediately as irrational, even though the evidence was right there in front of her. She realized that she might have to start believing in time travel very soon. She blew out her meditation candle, placed it on its shelf and climbed into her bunk to get some rest. As she quieted down her emotions and started to drift to sleep she hoped that she would find out whether Human and Vulcan children would have pointed ears.
Cont…
A/N: Well? Huh? I'm waiting! What do you think? REVIEW! Please, review and make an author happy.
Kee