The oddly comforting sound of rain hitting a roof filled the guest bedroom early in the morning, awaking Leonard from his brief sleep. The mattress was too firm and his back hurt like hell. When he thought about it, he realized he hadn't slept in his own bed in five nights! He wondered if he ever would again.
The warm feeling of Spock's arms around his waist drew Leonard away from his thoughts of mattresses. "Good morning, Leonard."
Bones turned around in Spock's arms to kiss him. "Good morning, darlin'. I trust you slept well?"
"Indeed, after Spencer and Stolik fell asleep, I did. The mattress was most comfortable."
"You would think that! Damn green-blooded hobgoblins and your rock hard mattresses!" he grumbled.
"That's not the only thing that's rock hard," Jim chuckled, pressing himself up against Leonard.
The doctor sighed. "Dammit, Jim."
"Oh come on, you said 'rock hard'! I couldn't resist!"
"Jim is right, Leonard. You did set him up for that sexual innuendo," Spock said with a playful smile in his eyes.
Bones shook his head. "You two are so immature."
"Yes, but you love us," said Jim, kissing the doctor's neck.
The beeping of his communicator made Jim jump and unhappily pull away from Bones. "Shit! What could they possibly want? We're on shore leave!"
Agitated, he flipped open the communicator. "What?"
"Sorry, Captain, but we just got orders from Starfleet," said Uhura regretfully.
Jim groaned, almost wanting to snap his communicator in half and later tell Starfleet that communications had gone out again. Feeling Jim's thoughts through their physical contact, Spock thought it necessary to remind Jim of his duties. "Jim, we work for Starfleet. As much as I would love to stay on Tevis, we must follow orders."
Spock was right; he almost always was. As he nodded to the half Vulcan, Jim asked Uhura, "What are the orders?"
"We are to deliver Andorian and Vulcan diplomats to a meeting on Earth," said Uhura. "In order to make it in time, we would need to set course for Andor in a couple of hours."
Jim frowned. "Alright, thank you, Uhura. Tell the shore leave parties they'll have to beam up as soon as possible. We'll be there shortly. Kirk out."
"Aye, sir."
As soon as he hung up, Jim buried his face in the pillow. "Why can't we just have a normal vacation? Why does everything we do go wrong?"
"Aw, come on, it's okay, Jim. We got to meet Stolik and Spencer, we reunited a father and his son, we ate some awesome food, and we got to see a purebred Vulcan laugh, smile, and cry all in the same day. I say we did pretty well for ourselves," said Bones.
"Since when are you an optimist?" asked Jim.
"I'm not. I'm just trying to make you feel better because I love you." He blushed at how cheesy that sounded.
However cheesy they might be, Leonard's words caused Jim's heart to melt. "Really?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Aw, I love you too, Bones," Jim told him with a kiss. "Well, I guess we'd better get up. But Stolik will be sad to see us go."
"Better to be sad than to have no emotions at all," remarked the doctor.
"I have emotions." Spock shocked himself with his own statement, earning himself a warm smile from McCoy.
"I wasn't talking about you; I know you do," he assured Spock as he wrapped his arms around the half Vulcan and kissed him sweetly. Spock then proceeded to show Leonard exactly just how many emotions he had.
Though he hated to break up the scene unfolding before him, Jim knew he should. "Hey, guys! Remember, thin walls?"
Slightly embarrassed on Leonard's part, they pulled away from each other and decided it would be best to get out of the bed and get dressed.
When they entered the living room they could see rain pouring down in fast heavy drops through the big windows. On the couch Spencer and Stolik were cuddled together under a flannel blanket, the Vulcan's head resting on his human husband's shoulder. Spencer was drinking a mug of hot cocoa (reminding Leonard and Spock of their night in the outpost on Elurra) and Stolik was drinking grape juice… or was that wine?
"Good morning!" greeted Stolik cheerfully. "Did you sleep well? We weren't too loud were we?"
"No, not at all; we slept great!" Jim lied smoothly, not wanting to embarrass their hosts. "Are you drinking wine?"
"Yes."
"At 8 in morning?" McCoy asked.
"It has no intoxicating effect on me. It started a while ago when Spencer insisted on having hot chocolate with his breakfast and I told him that I was going to have alcohol with my breakfast, just to show him how silly he looked. After a while it just became a habit I suppose," he said, taking another sip of his wine which looked very out of place in an orange juice glass.
"It is so ironic it is almost… logical," analyzed Spock.
Spock's statement earned a toothy smile from Stolik who then asked, "So what do you wish to do today?"
It was times like this that Jim hated being the one who did the talking in their relationship. "Well," he began regretfully, and was thankful when Spock stepped in the deliver the bad news.
"Starfleet has ordered us to transport Andorian and Vulcan ambassadors to Earth. We must return back to the Enterprise shortly," Spock informed them. Jim and McCoy winced on the inside when they saw Stolik and Spencer's happy expressions drop.
"Oh. Well, we understand," said Stolik glumly. "We worked for Starfleet once too…"
"We really wanted to stay and hang out with you guys," Jim assured them, "but we have to follow orders, you know."
"Well, that sucks," sighed Spencer.
"Will we ever see you again?" wondered Stolik.
"Of course!" exclaimed Jim. "You can call us anytime you like and next time we're in the area we'll stop by and say hello."
"I would like that." "That'd be great." The Hansens said at the same time.
"Well, we best get going," sighed McCoy, beckoning for Jim and Spock to follow him outside to the beam up point.
"Yeah, we'll be seeing you," said Jim.
"Wait!" The captain was taken off guard as the Stolik went up to him and hugged him shortly before also embracing McCoy.
"Emotional hobgoblins," McCoy grumbled good-naturedly as he returned the hug.
Stolik then turned to Spock expectantly. Only a fraction of a second after Spock nodded his consent, Stolik had him in a crushing bear hug.
"We wish you all a safe journey, live long and prosper," said Stolik after letting go of Spock.
Spock returned the gesture and they turned to leave, but something didn't feel right to McCoy. He spun back around to face Stolik and Spencer who were looking sadder than they should have been. He furrowed his brow and stared at them. "Alright, you two. What's the matter?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing really, Leonard," Spencer assured him.
"It's just so lonely around here," Stolik admitted quietly.
For a split second, Leonard wondered why they'd be lonely when they had each other, but then he remembered he had felt that kind of loneliness before. When he was with Jocelyn. That's when they'd decided to have Joanna. It was then that the doctor realized what was missing from their cheery little house.
"You ever considered having a kid?" he asked.
The look that came over Spencer and Stolik's faces was one of pain, regret, and confusion. "Adoption is not customary on Tevis. Since so many marriages cannot produce children, children are very special and are seldom unwanted or unplanned. If the parents all die then there is always a family member or family friend who is more than willing to raise the child," Stolik explained.
"Well I wasn't talking about adoption. I meant having your own kid," said Bones. Now their facial expression was just confusion. "Oh come on!" exclaimed the doctor. "Are you seriously telling me that Tevis doesn't have this procedure yet? !"
"What procedure?" asked Spencer.
"Same-sex pregnancy. It's a bit more complicated with two males than with two females, but it works," explained McCoy.
"Let me get this straight. Him and I could have our own biological child?" asked Spencer.
"Yeah! You even get to carry it if you want!"
Stolik's eyes widened with awe and his hand instinctively flew to his abdomen as if he were already pregnant. "I could get pregnant?" he asked, voice laced with joy and wonder.
"You bet! I can't believe Tevis, of all places, doesn't have this yet!" said McCoy.
"Wow, we'll uh this is defiantly something to think about," said Spencer.
"Take your time. Having a kid is not a decision to take lightly. But if you decide you do want to, I could even do the procedure for you," he told them.
Stolik smiled warmly at them, Spencer was lost in thought. "Thank you so much, Leonard," said the Vulcan.
"You're welcome. Take care now," he smiled, turning back towards the door.
"We will."
Outside, it was warmer than the humans had expected considering the amount of precipitation, but it was still cold enough to make Spock shiver as the raindrops hit him, soaking through his shirt.
"I've always thought the rain is kinda romantic, how about you?" Jim asked them, brushing his wet hair out of his face.
Both Spock and McCoy shook their heads emphatically. "It's cold, it's soaking me to the bones, and now I have to change my clothes!" Bones complained.
"I agree with Leonard. I am cold," stated Spock, blinking as raindrops attempted to land in his eyes.
Jim sighed. "You guys are such killjoys." He pulled out his communicator. "Scotty, beam us up. Spock and Bones are being all whiney."
The engineer just chuckled. "Aye sir."
In a matter of seconds they found themselves back on the transporter pad, dripping wet, clothes clinging unpleasantly to their bodies, hair plastered to their foreheads, Spock shivering.
Jim wrapped his arms around the trembling half Vulcan in an attempt to warm him with body heat. "Come on, Spock, let's get you outta these wet clothes," said Jim, only half suggestively. He walked Spock off of the transporter pad with Bones following close behind.
When they were halfway to Spock's quarters, Uhura's voice came over the comm. "Bridge to Doctor McCoy."
Bones groaned and hit the nearest comm on the wall. "Yes?"
"You're needed in sickbay for emergency surgery," Uhura informed him.
"Tell them I'll be right there," he said reluctantly. Then turning back to Kirk and Spock, "Honey, darlin', I gotta go. I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised them, giving them each quick pecks on the lips before turning to dash off towards sickbay.
"But you're still all wet," Jim protested.
"I'll change in sickbay. I'll be fine. Go get Spock warm and I'll see you later," he assured Jim before quickly proceeding down the hall.
When he got into sickbay Nurse Chapel was waiting for him. "You're all wet," she noted, confused.
Leonard grabbed a towel from the cabinet and hurriedly ran it through his hair. "Doesn't matter. Who're we doing surgery on? Wait, let me guess, an ensign from engineering?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"Figures. Come on, let's go save him. We're almost out of redshirts; I'd hate to lose another one."
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