Epilogue.

Spock had to suppress a certain degree of wariness as he walked alone through the main thoroughfare of the starbase's cultural centre. The increased security since his abduction was obvious – there were alert guards both Starfleet and private stationed all along the wide walkway. No one could afford to lose business due to the fear of slavers.

He held his overnight bag loosely at his side as he walked, trying to assume a relaxed stance, but he could not pretend that his eyes were not scanning the crowd, both for the slavers who had abducted him and for that moment of recognition in people's eyes as they realised just who he was. But no one seemed to recognise him as he moved purposefully towards the accommodation district. He was dressed in dark, informal clothes – the two days leave he had been granted on the starbase had nothing to do with Starfleet business. To most people around him he was just a Vulcan civilian in the melting pot of the cultural centre.

Delash's room on the starbase was much like Spock's own quarters on the Enterprise – or at least, how his quarters had been when he had first taken possession of them, without any of the personal touches that had made them his own. Delash owned little more than a suitcase donated by the refugee commission, and an assortment of clothes variously acquired and bought in the weeks since his emancipation. Spock did not, however, find himself spending very much time taking stock of his surroundings. Very soon after stepping through the door into this private sanctum he was lying alongside Delash in the wide bed there, skin to skin, relishing warmth set to Vulcan preferences and the sensation of Delash's hands appreciating every inch of his body.

'Spock, I would – ' Delash began hesitantly after long minutes of silence. Spock could suddenly feel the man's nervousness, and wondered what it was that had provoked such a reaction.

'Delash?' he asked in a low voice. 'Tell me…'

Delash traced a hand down Spock's back, letting it linger on the Vulcan's taut buttock under the silken blanket. 'Spockesh, I have tasted you and felt you and experienced you in every way imaginable. You've made me feel as if I was floating, as if I had never felt pain or suffering. Except for in one way… You have never let me be – a man with you.'

Spock raised his eyes slowly to meet those of Delash, reading the deep desire mingled with potential hurt in his dark irises.

'I would not hurt you,' Delash promised softly. 'In all these times you have never hurt me, and I can promise that I would not hurt you. I know well enough how to do this without pain…'

'It – is not the physical pain…' Spock said slowly.

A thousand images were crowding in his mind, of a thousand different ways that he had savoured Delash's body in the past few weeks. He had performed feats that he had never imagined were possible. He had dominated and owned Delash, and Delash had made him feel that he was blazing at the pinnacle of the universe instead of huddling deep in an unknown abyss. Spock, and no one else, had been responsible for creating the most exquisite pleasure in the man's mind, for drawing forth the most heartfelt moans of satisfaction and shivers of delight. He knew Delash's body almost better than his own. But one image blotted over all those other ones – the memory of being helpless, tightly spread over a cold table, of a shaft of cruel, merciless hardness ripping into the softness of his body, and that other's feelings of triumph and domination sinking into his mind on top of his own humiliation and pain.

He swallowed hard. His eyes were still fixed on Delash's, but for those few moments he had ceased to see them. Now he saw the longing and caring and promise of gentleness in them again.

'Turn over,' Delash said, touching his arm softly. 'Like we used to.'

Spock hesitated for a long moment before turning on the mattress, curling on his side as he had on his sleep mat all those weeks ago. Delash moved to lie alongside him, spooning his body against Spock's, skin to skin. His fingers began to stroke softly at Spock's ears and neck, and then moved downwards to caress the curve between hip and ribcage. Spock closed his eyes, lying very still, and felt Delash's lips touching at his neck, his beard moving against Spock's skin as his lips dropped kisses. Spock shivered as those moving lips trailed over a nerve that seemed to travel from scalp to groin, and he sighed almost silently.

'There,' Delash whispered against his neck. His fingers were stroking along the contours of his buttocks now, trailing along the crease where they met his thighs, and then delicately tracing the dark cleft between them. Spock could feel the firmness of Delash's erection lying against his back, and he focussed only on that and the moving fingers, trying to push away any other memory that infiltrated his mind.

Delash moved away briefly, and suddenly Spock could smell oil, mingling with the scent of sweat. He stiffened for a moment, but then he let the scent of the oil through his defences. Nothing could be further from the heavy, spiced stuff that Milaresh had used. This was light, with a sharp tang of citrus in its scent. And Delash's fingers were touching him again, moving with growing determination along the cleft between his buttocks, slipping deeper as the oil eased his path.

Spock drew in a deep breath, biting his lower lip momentarily into his mouth. Delash stopped immediately.

'Spock,' he whispered. 'Must I stop?'

Spock released the breath. Just that one action – the stopping, and the gentle question – caused relaxation to ease through his body. He shook his head, whispering, 'No,' and adjusted his position a little, turning a little more onto his front and pulling one knee up to his chest.

'Oh, Spock,' Delash murmured in a low, warm voice.

As his oiled fingers touched the tight pucker Spock almost moaned. He had never been *touched* here before. Roughly stretched or rubbed with lubricant, yes, but never caressed like this. Delash's fingers were circling lightly, bringing unknown nerves to life. His fingers moved down briefly, stroking firmly down to the soft skin of his scrotum, and then back to the tight hole. This time Spock did moan, as one finger slipped just a centimetre inside and then slipped out again. Then Delash's fingers were stroking him, gently relaxing the tightness with every shivering caress, and then slipping inside again, teasing him with their light touch and he found himself deliberately loosening the ring of muscle, willing a deeper and firmer penetration.

'Spock, are you ready?' Delash asked softly, his mouth very close to Spock's ear, and the Vulcan found himself whispering, '*Please…*'

He felt Delash's soft tip slip closer, and as Delash moved forward with great care he relaxed another degree, moving his own hand backwards to cup Delash's buttock, to urge him firmly on as he hesitated.

'*Please,*' he repeated in a low voice. 'Now…'

There was a brief, brief moment of pain, but before he had time to process the feeling it blended seamlessly into gliding, smooth pleasure. He kept his hand on Delash's buttock as a dizzy sense of gratification burst in his mind. It had never been like this… It had never been more than a swift, cruel plunge, becoming faster and faster until the climax. No one had ever moved at this slow, steady, careful pace. No one had ever concerned themselves with *his* pleasure.

And Delash moved again, slowly withdrawing before slipping in again, and his oiled hand slipped under Spock's arm and over his flank to curl around Spock's heated erection and move in time with the steady, measured thrusts of his hips. The movements became more urgent and animal, but any small pain was lost within the explosions of dizzy ecstasy that were consuming Spock's mind and body. He lost consciousness that there was any world beyond his body, that there was any logic or reason or discipline in the world, and as they both came he cried out in an inarticulate gasp, careless of the outside world.

He came back to himself slowly, realising that Delash was still curled about his body, still partly inside him, still with his hand curled loosely about Spock's dwindling erection. He let out his breath in a long, satisfied sigh, and smiled.

'There,' Delash said, close by his ear again. 'There is the difference.'

Spock could barely move. His body was consumed with a warm looseness that had removed all impetus from every muscle. He felt that he almost could not speak, but he said in a faltering whisper, 'Yes. There is the difference…'

Delash's head lowered itself against his, and he felt his lips kiss him again, and Delash's arms tightened about his body.

'We have one more day,' he whispered. 'Let me keep showing you the difference. And then you can leave on your starship, and I will find myself a home and a life, and I will be waiting for you whenever you call for me. Does that sound good to you?'

Spock allowed himself to smile again. For these past few weeks he had engaged in more willing intercourse than he ever had in his life, but it was not until now that he had felt complete.

'That does sound good to me,' he said, turning himself in Delash's arms so that they lay chest to chest. 'A perfectly equitable solution.'

'And, Spockesh,' Delash said softly, laying a hand softly on his cheek. 'When you go back to your ship – let your captain in to you.'

'Let him in to me?' Spock repeated slowly.

'You need him, Spockesh, just as you needed me. And he needs you back. Let him take care of you for me.'

Spock's mouth quirked upwards. 'I will let Jim take care of me,' he promised. 'If you will find someone who will take care of you.'

Delash moved his hand back down to lock his fingers firmly about Spock's own.

'There is a deal, Spockesh. I promise.'

******

Spock beamed back to the Enterprise with a feeling of relaxation through his neck and spine that had not been there for many months. It had, oddly, not been difficult to say goodbye to Delash. Delash's view of the relationship that existed between them was surprisingly logical, and surprisingly akin to Spock's own. Both understood that they had not formed a binding, exclusive relationship. Delash was quite content to start his life anew on another planet while Spock reclaimed his life on the Enterprise. A unique connection had formed between them, but it was something that lingered deep in the recesses of their minds, and it would not interfere with their daily lives. If their paths crossed, deliberately or accidentally, their friendship would be immediate, but Spock doubted that the heady weeks that he had just experienced would ever be repeated. McCoy would perhaps label the experience as a peculiar form of therapy. Perhaps he was right. Spock certainly felt more complete and self-assured than he had in many months.

As he materialised in the transporter room and the glitter died out of his vision his eyes lit on a familiar sight. Kirk was standing just in front of the transporter console, a warm, welcoming smile on his face.

'Welcome back aboard, Mr Spock,' he said, holding out a hand towards the Vulcan.

Spock stepped down from the transporter, nodding his head in his customary acknowledgement of Kirk's human greeting. It was almost as if he had been gone for weeks. Perhaps he had, metaphorically at least.

'Delash got off all right?' Kirk asked as they moved out through the transporter room door.

Spock nodded concisely. 'There were no delays. His ship departed without problems.'

Kirk glanced sideways at him. 'And you,' he said. 'Are you all right, Mr Spock?'

Spock paused in his step to look at his captain.

'Yes, Jim,' he said in a warm tone. 'I am – surprisingly well.'

Kirk smiled, and put a hand to his arm. 'Got some time for some chess in my quarters?' he asked casually.

Spock's eyebrow quirked upwards. 'Since I have not yet resumed normal duties, my schedule is at your whim, Captain. I have all the time that you allow me.'

Laughter snorted out of Kirk's nose.

'I'm sorry, Spock,' he said, wrestling control of himself at Spock's bewildered expression. 'It wasn't that funny, I know… But – it's just so nice to have *you* back, Spock. I've missed you.'

'As have I you, Jim,' Spock said with a very slight smile. 'As have I you.'