As Spock walked into the house, still carrying Leonard, Jim and Amanda let out deep breaths of relief while Sarek just stood in the background, carefully observing the three and a half humans.

"Spock! Leonard!" cried Amanda happily.

"I told you they'd be okay," said Jim, though it was obvious by the tremor in his voice that he had also been very worried. "You okay, Bones? You should know not to run off into the Vulcan desert like that! What were you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Jim. I wasn't thinking." Spock set Leonard down and quickly left to get him a drink of water.

"Obviously. But what's going on?" pressed the captain.

Spock re-entered the room and handed Leonard a bottle of water and then stood very close to him as he gratefully drank it.

Putting the water down, McCoy looked at the confused and expectant faces waiting for his answer. "Amanda, Ambassador Sarek; there's something Spock and I need to tell you," he began nervously. "We aren't engaged. We never have been."

He watched as Amanda's jaw dropped to the floor and Sarek's eyebrows shot to the ceiling. "Explain yourself, son. Why have you lied?"

"When I initially told Mother that I was engaged to a human man, I was not lying. His name is Doctor Joel Winson. We had been dating for 1.7429 years and had decided to get married. However, the night before we came to Vulcan, he withdrew his engagement without warning or sensible reason. This left me emotionally vulnerable and conflicted. Mother, I did not wish to hurt or disappoint you by telling you that my relationship had ended badly. Leonard knew of my conflict and took it upon himself to pretend to be my fiancé in an attempt to neutralize the situation," Spock explained. The look of hurt on Amanda's face was plain and unguarded. Sarek, however, just looked curious.

"It's all my fault, really. He didn't think of this, I did. I just flat out said I was his fiancé when you asked," Leonard added.

"It is not 'all you fault' Leonard. Spock could have refused to go along with your lie," pointed out Sarek.

"I did not want to hurt Mother. It seemed logical."

"Spock, Leonard, I don't know what to say…" began Amanda. "I am quite… touched that you would go through all of that just to avoid hurting me. But you've ended up hurting me anyways. As well as yourselves it seems. Leonard, you must be a very good friend in order to do something like this. You did a beautiful job at acting. I never sensed that you were not actually in love…" She recalled all the times they had acted like a real couple. Leonard had pulled out Spock's chair for him. Spock had kissed his pin prick. And Leonard had chased him around the house with cake.

At that, Spock and Leonard blushed slightly. "We simply are not engaged. I never stated that we are not in love," Spock murmured. Jim furrowed his brow in confusion but a soft smile crept onto his face. He had been beginning to suspect as much.

"I um, ran off like that because I love Spock too much to go through with a fake marriage," Leonard admitted.

"Father, although our engagement may have been a lie, everything I said to you before I left is true. I am in love with Leonard as is he with me. We made our feelings known to each other 11.53 minutes ago when I found him. And because of these recent admissions, there is something illogical and impulsive I would like to do."

Here, the half Vulcan gently grabbed Leonard's left hand and got down on one knee in front of him. All three humans and one Vulcan were in disbelief at what was unfolding before them. "Leonard McCoy. You are the most beautiful person I have ever met. You have always been there for me and I know you will never leave me or hurt me."

After a slight pause, Spock looked up intently at Jim who jumped at the realization. "Oh! Um hold on just a second!" he said. Somewhat frantically looking around, Jim finally grabbed the bottle of water and pulled the little plastic ring off of the top, handing it to Spock. "There ya go! …Sorry, Bones."

Bones chuckled, happy tears already threatening to fall from his beautifully blue eyes. Spock looked back up at him. "Leonard, I cannot imagine my life without you. You are perfect for me in every way and even though we never dated, I still know this is right. Will you do me the great honor of marrying me?"

The doctor closed his eyes and the tears streamed down his face while his smile hurt his jaw. "God, yes! Yes, Spock! I'll marry you, you pointy eared hobgoblin!" he cried. Spock allowed himself a smile as he slipped the plastic ring onto his new fiancé's finger.

"Wow, Bones. I don't think 'hobgoblin' has ever been used in a positive reply to a proposal before," bantered Jim.

"Shut up, Jim," he said good-naturedly as he grabbed onto Spock holding him tightly as their lips met passionately.

Sarek quietly walked up behind his wife who was crying uncontrollable and overwhelmed tears of joy. As he touched her hand, his thoughts were conveyed to her and she embraced him gratefully. "Son?" he asked.

Spock and Leonard broke their kiss and Spock looked up at his father. "I do not care that you do not approve. I am marrying Leonard and I am very happy. If you do not value my happiness then I have no reason to value yours."

"Son, you make a logical point. However, I was going to say that I was wrong before. I did not feel that your love was genuine at first, but you have saved his life by going after him and you have defied me to do so. Now since you have had the sense and courage to tell the truth about your relationship, I believe it is a very wise choice to marry Leonard. He went through a lot for your sake, proving that he truly loves you. My sincerest apologies to you both," the Ambassador said humbly.

"Thank you, Father."

"Apology accepted. Just don't be so hard on him in the future; he knows what he's doing."

"Indeed he does."

Spock inspected the plastic loop on his love's ring finger. "I will buy you a real engagement ring, if you wish."

"We can get fancy wedding rings. But for now, this one's perfect." Bones went in for another kiss which went on for far longer than the first one.

Clearing his throat, Jim finally said, "Okay, guys, I think that's enough… Get a room!"

And they did just that.

Hope you liked that!

I'm gonna be on vacation so I won't be able to get the next and (probably) final chapter up for a few days! But don't worry, it will be written!

Review please? :)