The transporter beams crackled and hummed to life, forming three figures in light.

Kirk materialized and sighed with relief, "Thank you Scotty...and Spock, per usual, you're a genius- couldn't have done it without you."

"Aye, happy to help, Cap'n."

"Took long enough," McCoy grumbled, rubbing his neck.

When Dr. Vida phased through, she immediately made eye contact with her mate, as if she knew precisely where he was standing before she arrived in the room.

Spock seemed to ignore the men, moving instead, directly to the one woman in the room. "Vivian, are unharmed?" His eyes broke away from hers to scan over her form for injury; he was relieved to find none. "I experienced concern in your absence."

He did notice something else, however: she didn't smell sweet and floral as she usually did. Instead, she smelled like sweat and musk- like a man- like the man next to her. Without intending to, his mind blurred through images from hers: shore leave, the closet, some antique inn.

"Vivian? Since when do you ever call anybody by their first name? And CONCERN?" McCoy chuckled and shook his head at the unusual display, but his amusement was brief as he looked back and forth between the two. A painful realization set it, "Now wait a minute-wait a damn minute!"

Vivian shut her eyes and exhaled slowly.

Spock's eyes hyperfocused on the doctor, his head cocked to the side, his nostrils began to flare with his deepening breath, and his face began to flush, "So you're the human lover?"

"Shit," Kirk was near the door when the scene began unfolding.

"What am I missing sir?" Scotty, beside him, was confused.

"Guess that makes you the sick son of a bitch who took a child bride." His jaw shifted forward.

"Don't," Vivian cut her eyes at him.

"Incorrect...did she not tell you? Our arrangement is recent."

"Spock," She warned.

"Really V? RECENT?"

"Leonard,"

"HOW recent?" He continued, his hands balling into fists.

"Friends, let's not-" Kirk was cut off.

Spock seemed to almost smirk, "We engaged in intercourse just last we-"

BAM!

McCoy hit him with a right cross, bringing green blood out of the nose of his target.

Immediately, instinctively, Spock let out a battle cry and brought down a diagonal chop- his arm like a blade. His opponent seemed to block it with his forearm and swung again with his opposite hand- striking a second blow. The thwack of the flesh rang out again.

"HEY!" Vivian shouted, lunging towards them.

"Gentlemen- knock it off- that's an order!"

While the friends attempted to interrupt the fight, Spock caught McCoy by his shirt, lifting him off the ground and rushing into the wall. He forced the man into the wall so hard it caused a dent- once- twice.

"STOP!"

McCoy brought up a hard knee, forcing his assailant off. His assailant chopped again, hitting him in the side and causing him to slam back against the control panel. Before he could strike another blow, a hand clamped around his neck with astounding pressure.

"Spock you're gonna kill him!"

"SPOCK!"

Kirk and Scotty finally managed to intercede, one taking each of the Vulcan's arms and pulling him backwards.

"The fuck was that?!" Scotty shouted.

"Not cool," Kirk panted.

Vivian dove to McCoy, "Are you alright?!"

He coughed, catching his breath. His eyes were beginning to swell, "Fine," He spat.

"Good," She spat back, launching back and away from him.

"We gonna talk about this at some point?"

"Dr. McCoy, that will be unnecessary. Our relationship has been terminated and you now know everything." She swallowed hard and pushed her hair back, her eyes unflinching. "I hope that we do not have to speak again for a significant amount of time."

She crossed the room, her eyes narrowing as if to burn through her mate, "And you..." She growled.

"I suggest you work past this incident quickly, given that our koon-ut will occur in approximately eleven months."

"Koon-ut-KALIFEE," She viscously reminded, "As I see it I have eleven months of independence to avoid you..." She began to stomp out the door, "And the rest of my lifetime to resent you."

"Lass's a right viper innit she?"

"Bones, get to sick bay for treatment. Then, return to your quarters to await further instructions." Kirk hated having to take such a tone with his friends.

McCoy stood upright and rotated his shoulder in place before heading out with a grumbled, "Yes sir."

Once he was gone, Kirk and Scotty let go of Spock who had almost caught his breath.

With his newly freed hands, he wiped the bit of blood from his busted lip. He and Kirk exchanged glances before his eyes moved to the floor.

"So you and Dr. McCoy were both shaggin' Dr. Vida- s'that right?"

"Mr. Scott, give us a minute, please." Kirk nodded at the door before Spock had the chance to start swinging again.

Scotty raised his hands in surrender and attempted to stifle his grin as he exited the transporter room.

"Spock I can't have you trying to kill crew members-"

"Need I remind you he struck me first?"

"Yeah, and that was wrong. I get that. But you're stronger than humans- you know that."

Spock sighed and nodded, "That is accurate...I apologize...I lost control of my anger...I believe I have now experienced jealousy."

"Yeah...man, I'm sorry," He pat his friend's shoulder. "I mean I bet he's pretty jealous too...You're the one who gets to marry her, sort of...if she doesn't challenge," Spock raised an eyebrow. "Which I'm sure she won't!"

"Our partnership is out of necessity...she chose him, not because she had to, but because she wanted to...I recognize that."

"You know...they worked together so much...maybe if you spent more time together-"

"I find it hard to believe that she would be interested in such an idea now."

Kirk thought he detected a sadness in his friend's voice, "Just...give her some time...She'll cool off."

When McCoy got to the sick bay the following day, he had to dodge questions about his black eyes. Nurse Chapel told him that Dr. Vida updated her schedule to be fully in her lab and no longer in the general med bay. She also asked if there had been a fight on the surface, given that she treated spot the day before for similar injuries.

When Spock reported to the bridge the following morning, the crew raised collective eyebrows, but didn't ask out of respect. Uhura joined him in an elevator to ask, one-on-one, what had happened. He found a reason to depart quickly, only after assuring her it did not concern her.

Vivian returned to her room, overwhelmed with devastation and rage. The two strong, almost conflicting feelings helped to rebuild every mental barrier she'd taken down to assure her rescue. In her fury, she punched her wall, resulting in a dent in the wall and green liquid emerging from her knuckles. She needed a shower: clean, fresh, calming. That's what she always did when something went wrong, like a reset. She needed his smell off of her. This time, the water did little to soothe her. She backed into the corner and slid downwards into a seated position, wrapping her arms around her legs. For the first time, since Vulcan's annihilation, she sobbed without holding back.

As promised, Vivian withdrew to her lab. She limited her interactions crew members to what was necessary. Instead of eating in the officer's lounge, she took to taking her meals in her quarters. The other officers missed her company. The group of women that had been spending time together, missed her too. Uhura even made an attempt at visiting her to talk, but was surprised to find that her friend had retreated entirely into her Vulcan cynicism.

Her human side wanted to sink into depression, sleep too much, eat too much, but her Vulcan discipline wouldn't allow it to impact her productivity. After a month or so she had started to feel better, finding her purpose again in her work for the new colony. Part of her debated returning to a level of socialization, but she hesitated.

McCoy still charted late, but he wouldn't listen to Elvis anymore. He ordered wings still sometimes...but only for one. He missed Dr. Vida and her erratic foreign dance movers and zinger one-liners. He missed how her hair smelled, how her butt looked in the scrubs, and how her lips twitched when she suppressed a smile. Even though he knew their romantic relationship was over, in the back of his mind he hoped they could eventually be friends.

Spock buried himself in his work. Although it was illogical, he occasionally looked over his shoulder half-expecting Dr. Vida to appear again, having made some excuse to come to the bridge. He missed hearing about her research, though he had been keeping up with it by reading her notes from the server. Despite it having only occurred a handful of times, he found himself reminiscing about kissing her: how she smelled, how soft her lips were. He noticed almost immediately that she'd blocked him out of her mind, and he couldn't blame her. Unfortunately, their physical tie that remained only served as an annoyance. It wasn't long before he was tired and his pectoralis muscles hurt. He, of course, attributed this to regular female biological processes...without knowing that it had yet to occur.