Welcome back! Here we go at last: they tell their friends (well, one at a time). Any last bets on how they will react to this unexpected news?

Christine leant against Uhura's desk and watched her close the jacket of her uniform. She'd stopped by just after breakfast to talk to her before she went up to the bridge.

"So, what's this about?" Uhura asked and smirked at her in the mirror. Getting a visit from Christine so early in the morning was unusual enough, even more so with her rushing in and spluttering that she had to tell her something or she'd burst.

"It's about Spock."

Uhura whirled around. "What did he do, honey?" The smirk was wiped from her face. Chris getting worked up about Spock was no laughing matter. She still remembered holding onto a sobbing Nurse Chapel after the Platonians had forced her and him to kiss. Granted, that hadn't been Spock's fault.

Christine bit her lips, hesitating. "I…We…It's not so much about what he did, but rather about what we did."

"Chris…what are you trying to tell me?"

She didn't dare to voice what this sounded like.

"Well, there's no beating around the bush, I guess." Christine laughed. "He got a message from Vulcan High Command, basically saying that, on grounds of the information they gleaned from mission reports, they acknowledge our status of being legally bonded."

Uhura froze in the process of closing a button. Even as a communications officer, she'd never received news quite as shocking.

"That's something," she said slowly, carefully looking at her friend. She wasn't sure yet if this was good news, but Chris didn't seem unhappy at least. "You shared minds, the Vulcans must have found that…interesting," she wondered.

"Yes, and our individual mission reports seemed to indicate a…relationship."

Uhura stepped closer and joined Christine at her desk. "And they're not wrong, are they?" she asked with a sideways look, venturing a perhaps not so bold guess.

The doctor shook her head. "We didn't see it ourselves, just how close we had become. And we weren't aware of the bond that had formed. Until we tried to make it go away and…"

"…and found you didn't want to," Uhura finished, nodding as she understood the scope of this.

"Yes, exactly."

"Who else knows?"

"All of Earth and Vulcan probably knows by now," Christine huffed. "On this ship, just you. Don't tell anyone until after your shift, though. I want the Captain to hear it from Spock."

Uhura promised not to tell anyone and then hugged Christine. "Congratulations, Chris. He's a very lucky Vulcan, I hope he knows that."

Christine nodded. Yes, she believed he knew.

Meanwhile, Spock was sitting in front of his monitor, waiting for a connection to the long-distance shuttle his parents were travelling on. This was a conversation neither his Vulcan upbringing nor his Starfleet training had prepared him for.

At last, the connection was established and the face of his mother appeared.

"Spock."

She smiled, but Spock knew she was regarding him with one of those looks that had cost many a diplomat an advantage. Vulcans might have telepathy but his mother had an ungainly amount of human intuition.

"Mother."

"Is there anything you might want to tell me?" Amanda asked.

Spock hesitated. "It seems I have gotten myself telepathically bonded," he said slowly.

"Yes, I've heard as much," his mother said, sounding slightly put out, "all of Vulcan is buzzing with the news. Didn't you think to tell your mother?"

Spock raised one eyebrow. Yes, Christine had been right in her assumption.

"I would have, had I known at that point. I only found out myself a short while ago."

His mother frowned. "Have you talked to your doctor?" she asked, half worried, half amused. Usually, people noticed getting bonded.

"Surely, we have a telepathic bond, after all."

"You and Doctor McCoy are bonded?"

She hadn't looked too deep into the rumours swirling around Vulcan for the last two months, hoping that Spock would tell her himself who he was bonded to. This was a surprise, however.

"No!" her son protested, with an almost human expression of shock. "The other one. Doctor Chapel. Christine."

"Of course." Amanda sighed.

If she wasn't as confused about the whole scenario, she would congratulate him on his choice. She liked Christine. But there was still the matter of her son managing to link himself to the doctor without his knowledge. And he certainly hadn't been to Vulcan, where the official ceremony would usually take place. But maybe they had met a priestess at some other location.

"Have you talked to a Vulcan priestess?" she asked.

"There was none present."

"So, you eloped?"

"No, it just…happened."

Spock met his mother's dumbfounded look. It seemed he would have to explain everything. How could she know, otherwise?

As he narrated the events of the past weeks, leaving out some details that made him almost blush even thinking about them, she listened intently.

Amanda had to stifle her laughter as he told her how they had tried to break the bond by being distant. Of course, that hadn't worked. She could have told him that. All the journeys Sarek had undertaken on his own had never managed to weaken their bond. On the contrary.

And Spock's idea with the Kal-if-fee had been creative but similarly useless. It was obvious to Amanda. You couldn't separate a bond between two all too willing parties, even if they hadn't known how willing they were.

When he had finished, she regarded her son with a loving smile.

"How are you feeling, Spock?"

He looked at her exasperatedly.

"Your father isn't here right now. You can tell me," she added.

"I am feeling…" How was he feeling? What did humans say? "I am feeling…content," he said, deciding that 'happy' constituted too much of an emotional outburst.

His mother nodded with an all too knowing sparkle in her eyes. "I'm happy for you, Spock. I will see you this evening. Before we arrive, though, I think your father would appreciate it if you spoke to him as well."

"Very well, mother."

The screen flickered to static for a moment, then changed to the image of another room on the shuttle.

"Hello, my son," the older Vulcan said.

"Hello, father." Spock straightened up subconsciously.

"You wanted to tell me something."

Spock decided on a straightforward approach. "I am…bonded."

"Yes, I know. To whom?"

"Doctor Christine Chapel."

"Very well," Sarek said, nodding approvingly. "I congratulate you on your choice."

Spock recounted the past events to his father as well, leaving out everything but the most crucial details.

Sarek narrowed his eyes at his son after he had stopped talking. "I see a question in your eyes."

It could have easily seemed an accusation, but Spock recognised that his father meant it as an invitation.

"I am still…intrigued how it happened," Spock explained. "I did not actively choose her."

"It may not have been a conscious choice, but it was a choice, my son," his father said calmly. "Yours, and hers, together."

To be continued...

Sarek does have his moments, right? Buckle up for Spock's parents visiting the ship soon! And if you want to find out how Jim will react, stay tuned!