T'Leiarel made a point of going to sickbay in the morning as she figured the doctor would want a check up, and she didn't intend to make him try to find her. It wasn't like she knew many other people on board and she wanted to give Spock a little space. They had been spending so much time together over the last few days, and would probably be spending more over the afternoon and evening, so a bit of space to think by themselves seemed like a good idea.
"Oh, is something wrong?" McCoy asked as he saw her come into sickbay.
"No, I mean a few aches and pains like you said I might have..." It probably hadn't helped quite how active she had been the day before... The fight was a given, but the time she had spent with Spock had been surprisingly athletic. "Nothing major, but I thought you would probably be looking for me at some point for a follow up? Also I wanted to tell you that Spock should be back to his normal self very shortly, if he isn't already. Hormones all back under control and all that." She smiled cryptically.
"But you're not going to tell me what happened right?" He asked accusatively, and she responded with a shrug. "Given that he hadn't been treated yesterday, am I right in guessing you had something to do with it? Unless Sarek brought something up with him to your dinner yesterday." He was thoughtful, trying to get to the bottom of things, since there was no other distractions in sickbay at the moment. T'Leiarel smiled as she hopped up to sit on one of the beds, swinging her legs with playful good humour.
"Very logical deductions." He frowned at how little she was actually saying, she just continued to smile sweetly. "Isn't it enough to know that he will be better?" She asked, making him sigh.
"You know, I AM his doctor, and yours for the time being, if you two are engaging in some form of treatment I should know what it is." Leonard frowned as she smirked even more at his phrasing. He narrowed his eyes, then widened them as he made a guess at what those sneaky Vulcans might be up to. She raised an eyebrow. "I am guessing the treatment is usually something to do with married couples... hence the whole wedding situation and Spock's dad seeming to think you were married." She said nothing which only served to confirm his guess. "So, since you aren't here to discuss Spock's condition, how did meeting his father go?"
"Better than I expected, to tell the truth." T'Leiarel answered thoughtfully. "I'm not used to Vulcans who actually seem to approve of me, it was a very surreal meal. He invited us down to visit on the planet, but I'm not sure if I'll go. It might be better if Spock had some time with his Father by himself, he probably doesn't get much of it since he's in Starfleet."
"That sounds like an excuse if ever I heard one." McCoy responded wryly. She supposed it was, part of her just didn't want to go to the planet, though she supposed she should probably at least see what the planet was like, even if she was unlikely to want to return. "I am sure that nobody would blame you if you wanted to just stay on board, but the question is, what would you feel about it? I mean you just up and left for Earth all on your own, and then when you got pulled back into this mess again you fought a pretty fierce battle, when you could have let someone else do it. You don't seem to me like the kind of person to shy away from problems."
"You are right doctor." She sighed. "I should have a bit of an explore, with and without my bondmate."
"Leonard is fine." He offered politely, and she responded with a smile. "And what exactly is a bondmate? You were discussing that before, about being that instead of married? I would ask Spock but Vulcans can be so secretive, you at least explain what you're not explaining."
"I think I can choose to take that as a compliment... in any case I definitely agree there is far too much secrecy, it leads to people doing things because they've always been done that way rather than actually discussing them and thinking about what's important and what is tradition for tradition's sake, not to mention what's just downright archaic." It didn't take much to guess what she was thinking of with that last comment. "So, you got the part where marriages are usually arranged, between the families, right?" He nodded. "And you are aware of the touch telepathy aspect of Vulcan physiology?" Leonard gave her an incredulous look, he was a damn doctor, he'd had to study this sort of thing. "Right... well anyway, as part of the betrothal between the two children they are encouraged into forming a telepathic bond, something that links them in ways that aren't fully understood even by Vulcans. It's kind of like a fiance, with the whole expectation that there'd be a marriage at some point, but it's actually a connection in and of itself."
Well, it wasn't a perfect explanation, but he figured it was the best he was going to get without being able to actually experience telepathy himself... it sounded pretty personal though, intimate. Of course it would be even more so with Vulcans being so private about their thoughts and feelings and all that. It seemed like it was pretty big deal. It was strange that Spock never told them he had one, and if he was bonded to T'Leiarel then why hadn't he said something when they were sent to find her, unless they had bonded as part of his treatment, but he'd been talking about it before... okay it was getting confusing again. McCoy sighed.
"I suppose you two probably have a lot to work out. It's just a shame there's so little time for you to do it. We're only staying in orbit until tomorrow night, and there's a whole five year mission ahead of us, so goodness knows when we'll be back this way. It's a shame you can't just come with us, but I figure you're not the kind of person to want to sit around idle as someone's wife." He commented thoughtfully. To be honest he would like to see his friend happy, and she seemed to make Spock happy, she also got on well with most of the rest of the crew as far as he could tell, that she'd met anyway. If she was starfleet she'd fit in well on board, but there wasn't exactly a lot of scope for civilians on board. "What was it you studied at the Academy anyway? Jim said something about you working training diplomats?"
(Any suggestions for areas of expertise? I have a rough idea but it is developing and I am open to suggestions. As always reviews are appreciated even if they don't have suggestions in them.)