It had been another long, hard day. A day that had seemed busier than most as it was filled with more demanding customers than usual so it was with a sigh of pure pleasure that Jane sank down appreciatively on the old but comfortable sofa in her small lounge room.

She had been relaxing for a scant couple of minutes when the harsh sound of the door broke the silence in the small apartment.

Having just gotten comfortable Jane scowled as she struggled to rise again; silently she wondered who it could be?

Mr and Mrs DeLuca were away for the weekend, busy celebrating 45 years of wedded bliss as Mrs DeLuca had put it, and other than the older couple she really had no friends in the Cafe; having being so badly burnt emotionally by the Enterprise crew she really had no desire to get emotionally attached to anyone in a hurry.

Anyway it was not like she really had anything in common with the young university students who worked for the DeLuca's anyway.

Waddling towards the door she was so tired she did not even bother looking through the peephole – something she would later regret – before she threw the door open to reveal the tall, sombre figure of her bondmate, soon to be ex bondmate.

"Spock" she gasped in shock; she really had not expected this. It had only been just over a week since Jack had sent the documentation off and she had for some reason not expected such a quick response in message form let alone this; a personal appearance.

Wasn't the Enterprise still meant to be out in the black?

Spock for his part seemed fixated on her stomach, her stomach which at seven months pregnant was vastly rounded and swollen – she was a far call from the lithe, slender bondmate he would remember.

"What are you doing here" Jane forced herself to spit out; her voice sounding dry and hollow even to her "Shouldn't you be on the Enterprise. You know the ship you kicked me off of?"

At her word's Spocks eyes snapped up to her face and he stepped towards her, moving further into her inner sanctuary "The Enterprise regrettably sustained grievous damage during our last mission and we were forced to return to base for repairs early. We were 4 standard days away from Earth when I received your lawyer's message."

"Did you read the message?" Jane snapped "Did you read the part where I said I didn't want to see you? Did you read the part where I said that I would prefer all future contact be through our lawyers?"

"After reading the contents of the letter I felt compelled to return back to Earth with all due haste" Spock told her "to begin to make reparations for my regrettable belief in your infidelity. Having seeing the results of the genetic testing I must concede that the child you are carrying is indeed biologically mine and I accept that I have been regrettably wrong in my belief in your betrayal.

"Wow" Jane choked out sarcastically "Isn't that magnanimous of you"

"I beg forgiveness" Spock went on and was it just her or did her usually calm, stoic ex sound a touch uncertain or was it just wishfully thinking on her behalf "for not listening to you on the many occasions you approached me before your unfortunately removal from the Enterprise but my unfortunate belief in your betrayal was at the time... logical. After all my proven sterility spoke for itself and validated at the time my belief in your unfaithfulness. "

Jane had heard more than enough; was Spock only here to validate his reasons for his newly discovered unfair treatment of her, to ease his undoubtedly guilty conscience.

In any case he had nothing to say she could want to hear; he had made his choice 7 months ago on the Enterprise when he had decided to kick her out of his life without even giving her a fair trial.

"Spock I don't even know what you are doing here" Jane told him "If it is about the baby; well that is what the custody settlement is about"

"I understand your anger at my sudden reappearance in your life" Spock intoned in soft, nearly even gentle tones "but I wish to make amends; I wish to be part of my child's life... a part of your life once again"

Jane stared at him in dead silence; he could not be serious – he could not expect to waltz back into her life with barely an apology after what he had put her through and expect her to take him back with open arms.

Jane was about to open her mouth to give him a much deserved dose of reality when the doorbell rang again.

Taking the opportunity to walk away from Spock for a moment and to give herself a much needed moment to clear her head before it exploded Jane walked over to the door opening it to reveal Jack De Luca who was holding a pizza box and a brown bag.

"Jack" Jane's eyes widened, what was her lawyer doing at her doorstep at 7pm at night?

"Jane" Jack's blue eyes smiled at her "I thought you might appreciate going over the finer points of your court case with me before the big day." Holding up the box and brown bag he added "I've brought dinner"

Jane suddenly felt Spock's presence as he stopped to stand behind her.

Without even seeing it she knew he would be engaging Jack with his standard Vulcan death stare.

"Jane" he asked icily "Who is this person."

"This" Jane retorted "Is my lawyer. You know the person who will represent me during our pending custody case. The person you are meant to be directing all correspondence through"

"And do all of Earth's lawyers typically visit their clients at their homes at eight thirty at night?" Spock enquired coldly.

"No" Jack smiled coolly at Spock – seemingly unaffected by the death glares the Vulcan had been sending his way and Jane's respect for him went up; she had seen harden Klingon warriors back away from Spock's death glares "Only the gorgeous single ones."

"Jane" Spock retorted even as he moved closer to her – as if he still had the right to stake a claim on her "Is not single. She is my bondmate."

"Not for much longer" Jane twirled around to fix her bondmate with a death glare of her own, "Did you really think after the way that you chucked me out of your life, out of the Enterprise that I would really take you back? "

Smiling sharply at him she went on "You said on the ship that you would contact me to have our bond broken; well now I am telling you I want it broken as soon as possible."

"I spoke in haste on the ship" Spock eyes bore into hers "I have been in contact with a Vulcan Healer who inspected my side of the bond to investigate the rite that we would need to break it; unfortunately after examining me in a stoop over at New Vulcan he found our bond to be a rare, almost unheard of, form of the usual Vulcan bond – so rare it has not be documented in a bonded couple for over a thousand year..."

"I don't care" Jane broke in "What kind of bond we share I just want it broken."

"It cannot be broken unless through death" Spock monotone informed her "The traditional methods, if we tried to utilize them to break the bond, would only lead to both of us descending into madness; our minds would never recover as our bond is so deeply imbedded in the deepest reaches of our brains – by destroying it we would destroy our minds."