A/N: Please heed this warning. When this was posted in its debut format, several people got upset with this chapter. I do not want to spoil it, but proceed at your own caution and know that this is keeping with 40 year ST Canon (going back to concepts first stated in The Original Series.)
Merged
Chapter 18
It was during the morning on the second day after Sontek had decided to pull behind his mental shields. Jon had spent the last two days watching Water Polo. He had decided this was definitely a good idea since he had obviously caught some sort of bug. He'd started feeling feverish about the middle of the first day and had continued to experience what felt like a physical reaction to something. He was going to call Phlox but T'Pol had called earlier and said she would be by later. He'd indicated he didn't want her to get sick. She had answered that she was sure everything would be fine.
Jon had expected Sontek to come out sooner or later, but he'd been hoping sooner. The fact that he was still behind shields concerned him. He had tried a few times to reach Sontek but it was as if he had pulled the shields around him, defying Jon to come in. Not since the first days on Tanansis V had Jon felt so confused and alone. This was just not like the man he'd learned to know in the past seven months.
He noticed that one of the shields was slipping and he tried to reach Sontek to find out what was wrong. He was shocked when he touched his other half's mind. Jon had never studied psychology beyond the required coursework that command staff was required to take, but he knew something was very wrong. Normally Sontek's thoughts were logical and ordered. What he touched were more like the ravings of a madman.
Jon couldn't understand what had happened. He had continued to notice the build up of adrenaline and it felt like the fever was getting worse. They hadn't been sick since the moment they had awoken in the medical unit on after the surgery that had merged them. He'd never thought about that before. Could this bug be affecting the Vulcan's mind? He might have to contact Phlox soon. He hoped that T'Pol would be able to tell him what to do.
He decided to try once more. "Sontek? Are you okay?"
A vehement shout of "Leave me!" was the answer.
"You know I can't leave you. What's going on?"
"I said leave me!" The order was again mentally shouted at Jon. Jon was shocked and he was frightened. Sontek was mentally ill. That was only logical conclusion. Something was affecting him in a horrid way and Jon didn't know how to stop it. He couldn't imagine spending his existence in the presence of insanity and he was unsure if something of this magnitude could be temporary. He decided to see if he could find a way around the shield, see if he could learn more about what was happening. He softly pushed on the edges and found a slight crack. He entered in and was immediately hit by confusing thoughts and images. It was if the entire world had turned upside down and inside out. This was worse than any anomaly in the Expanse. Jon continued in, praying he could find his way out again.
After a few moments, Jon ran up against something that figuratively made his blood run cold. He had touched on a thought that Sontek had about T'Pol. In it, he had ripped the clothes from her body and was sexually attacking her, clawing at her skin, biting her. Jon wasn't sure but this felt like more than a fantasy, it felt like an imperative. Putting it into the only perspective he understood, it felt like his other half was planning to rape her. He headed back to his own mind. T'Pol would be here within the hour. He had to stop Sontek. He had to protect T'Pol.
He called Malcolm receiving a voice mail. He hoped fervently Malcolm would pick up his messages. As he recalled, they weren't leaving until this afternoon. If anyone could handle a security issue like this, Malcolm could. He marked the message as urgent, asking his friend to come and help him.
He started thinking about what he might be able to do. One of Jon's previous girlfriends had liked rough sex. She had been a bit kinkier than most of the girls he'd dated. Initially he'd found it a bit of a turn on that she was into that kind of thing, that she had enjoyed being tied up. She'd had him purchase real handcuffs at one point. It wasn't long after that, though, that she'd upped the stakes in the game and had wanted to get into whips and chains. That was it. They'd split up. He wasn't into that.
Although he'd never used them again, he still had the handcuffs in the apartment. They were in a box on the top shelf of the closet. Jon retrieved them. He closed the door to the bedroom and handcuffed himself to the bed, throwing the key to the other side of the room. He figured if nothing else, that would keep him away from T'Pol. He continued trying to call Malcolm. He left a message with Phlox as well. He tried to call T'Pol but she was not picking up either. He felt a panic like he never had before.
Jon found that the fever was continuing to get worse. Sontek had realized that they were confined and he pulled at the cuffs, causing the metal to chaff at his wrist. He was close to breaking the skin when he heard the door being opened. He cursed himself that he'd given T'Pol a key.
"Jontek? Where are you?" T'Pol's voice was calling from the other room causing Sontek to pull harder on the confined wrist.
The voices from Sontek's mind started spilling over to Jon's side making it hard to think. He yelled out, fear in his voice. "Get away, T'Pol! Something is wrong! You need to get the police!"
Instead he heard the door to the room being open. Sontek pulled harder on the handcuff. He heard their wrist crack and knew it was broken. Sontek continued to pull on it, determined to get free. "T'Pol! Go away! That's an order! Don't come in here without the police!"
"Jontek, what's wrong?" She continued to come into the room. She took in the sight, concern appearing on her face. "You're in Pon'farr."
Jon could feel his free hand reaching for the one that was confined. The one that was keeping him from T'Pol. With strength he had never felt before, the free hand grabbed the other and squeezed. He felt the bones in his hand being broken. The hand slipped easily from the handcuff. Suddenly, he was free and moving toward T'Pol.
Jon tried again to pull the Mr. Hyde his Vulcan partner had become away from T'Pol. Part of him knew he wouldn't be able to but he had to try. With a voice that was in absolute panic, he cried, begging her, "Please T'Pol! Please! Just Run!"
"No! I can help!" As the Vulcan man reached her, she put her hand up to his face, entering his mind. Jon felt her coolness calm the fever somewhat but not enough. His one good hand was grabbing her clothes, ripping them from her body.
Suddenly, T'Pol's thoughts were his. "Jon, you must go behind shields."
He refused, "No! I won't leave you! He'll hurt you!"
"You must!" He could feel T'Pol being pulled toward Sontek, being ripped away from him.
"No.!" He was losing her, and he was afraid.
T'Pol mentally started to build a shield in front of him. "Jon, trust me! This is Vulcan biology! I must help Sontek!" He felt her begging him to follow what she asked. "I can't protect you at the same time!" He started to refuse again when she reminded him of the Seleya. "This is not like that, Jon. I can save him. It's the only way I can save you. Trust me! Please! No matter what don't come out until I say you can."
It was the hardest thing that Jon had ever done. The woman he loved had pushed him away, asking him to trust her. Asking him to hide himself. How could he hide when she was being raped? He couldn't let that happen. Why would she ask him to do this?
He continued to feel sensations he'd never experienced. It felt like rage. It felt like anger. He could feel his body doing things that he equated with abuse. Finally, he decided that trusting T'Pol was not the wisest action. He wasn't a coward. He'd stop Sontek from hurting her no matter what the cost. He had to try.
As Jon pulled the shields down he was shocked. Sontek was sexually attacking T'Pol with a vengeance that he could not fathom. She was fighting back; he could see that, her nails scratched at his face, drawing blood. And still Sontek pushed her down, under him. He wouldn't stop.
Jon used all of the mental strengths he had learned over the past seven months and pulled at Sontek. The man turned on him, beating him with psi slugs of mental powers, each one hitting him like a photon cannon. He felt T'Pol interject between them. To Sontek she sensuously soothed him, "No, Sontek! I am yours! Let this one go! He is weak and vanquished! Take your prize! I burn for you"
To Jon, she again begged him. "He will kill you, Jon. Please, I would die if that happened. Do not come out again!" With that she pushed him behind the shields again.
Jon didn't know how long he stayed. It felt like hours, like days. He was injured, he knew that. It was hard to think. He'd ceased feeling, giving up most of the consciousness to Sontek. T'Pol was probably right, if Sontek had hit him any more with the psi slugs, he'd probably be dead. He wondered what that would have done to Sontek? If he mentally was gone but the physical structure was still in place.
Finally, he felt T'Pol coming to him. He could tell she had been attacked multiple times but she did not seem hurt by it. Indeed, she seemed calm, almost appeased.
T'Pol thoughts softly sought him out. "Jon?"
He answered her. "I'm here T'Pol." He felt her come to him, soothing thoughts mentally stroking him, as a mother would for a child who'd been frightened. Not that he couldn't relate to that. His other half had turned into a monster. He was afraid to face him again, afraid that this time, Sontek would finish him off. He could tell that T'Pol was feeling everything he did.
She soothed, "No, Jon. Sontek will not hurt you. The Pon'farr is complete."
"What is this Pon'farr?"
"It is the Vulcan way. Vulcan biology existed long before we embraced logic. During this time, we lose ourselves, especially the men. They must mate, or die." Her explanation made no sense to him, but yet he understood she was speaking the truth.
Jon was still trying to understand what had happened and he stated, "I've never felt this from Sontek before."
"I know. It happens every seven years. This was Sontek's first experience. It won't happen again for seven years."
Suddenly Jon thought of T'Pol's part in this. "Was this your first Pon'farr?"
She nodded. "My first cycle had been triggered unnaturally when we were on Enterprise due to a virus. Phlox was able to stop it and that kept it at bay. This was my first experience since then." She could feel the pain that the psi slugs had caused him. "You need to be treated. I will take you to the Vulcan Compound. There will be a healer there."
Jon refused. "I can't go there, T'Pol."
"Why not?" She truly didn't understand.
"This is embarrassing. I just don't think I could face anyone." Jon felt himself blushing.
"Jon. This is a natural part of Vulcan life. Even Vulcan's can be hurt during the Pon'farr. I know that Sontek is feeling bad about what transpired. But you have to understand, he couldn't help himself. You challenged him. He had to win me."
Jon response held pain. "But T'Pol, he raped you."
She shook her head. "You're seeing things from a Human perspective, Jon. To Vulcan's what we shared was right. It was what is supposed to happen."
He was surprised "You're not hurt?"
"No. I am fine" She took his hand, broken and limp. "You are not. You are injured. Mentally and physically. And Sontek is not. He is saddened greatly. He feels that Surak's words speaks what is in his heart. Tilek svi'khaf-spol t'vathu - tilek svi'sha'veh."
"What does that mean?"
"It means 'The spear in the other's heart is the spear in your own.' He feels that he had put a spear into your heart and so he feels it as well. He knows you were just trying to help me, but he was unable to help you understand. This came upon him suddenly and by the time he knew what it was, it was too late."
Jon considered what she was saying. "This will not happen again for seven years?"
"That's right. That is the Vulcan cycle. I promise you, Sontek is as you know him again. He is truly hurt by what he almost did to you."
Jon nodded. "I guess what Sir Francis Bacon once said applies here."
"What did he say?"
"'We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.' Sontek is my friend. I guess I need to forgive him. If what you're saying is true, this was right, even if I didn't see it that way. I know that it's sometimes hard not to put Human meanings to alien concepts and this was as alien to me as anything I could conceive of."
He felt T'Pol go to Sontek and sooth that wound as well. A moment after, he felt a familiar mental presence. "Jon?"
"Yes, Sontek?"
"I'm sorry. I should have told you more about Vulcan biology. It is not something easily discussed but it was wrong of me to prevent you from knowing about it."
"What's done is done. We can't dwell in the past, we must move forward."
"Thank you."
T'Pol spoke next. "Now, let's get both of you to the Vulcan Compound. You have injuries, not the least of which is your broken hand."
Jontek and T'Pol dressed quickly and the three of them headed to the Vulcan Compound; their lives back to where they left them, but at the same time changed forever.