AN: Thank you all so very much for your lovely reviews. I do appreciate those that took the time to review. Thanks for bearing with me while I had some writer's block.

Yeah, it's always a joy… writer's block.

Anyway, I own nothing please enjoy.

OoOoOo

"Nyota," Jim began with a sigh of resignation, "as much as I would love, and trust me I would, to blow a crater the size of the Earth's moon into Vulcan; in these brief moments of sanity not clouded by the crippling panic of knowing that I am about to be handed over to a possessive Vulcan, I do tend to remember that I don't kill civilians."

T'Pau raised a brow imperiously.

"Or allies," Jim muttered through slightly clenched teeth. Though the last part had only just barely been the truth, it was still the truth. Damn her and her sense of morals.

The linguist gave her an amused questioning look. "Jim, I didn't say that at all."

The engineer blinked in surprise. "You didn't?"

"No."

"Oh," she looked around confused, "then what were you talking about?"

"I believe the Starfleet Officer was trying to impress upon thee the importance of diplomacy," T'Pau replied neutrally, though if Jim had a say in it she could swear the old bitty was laughing behind that stony glare of death.

"Diplomacy, right." Kirk kept her face completely straight and stared directly back at the Vulcan matriarch.

"It's alright Jim, I know you are nervous."

She shot Uhura a scathing look, and Bones was coughing but Jim knew better. The bastard was trying not to laugh. Why did everyone but her find this so damn amusing? Was she the only one left with any form of sense? Common or otherwise, really she wasn't being picky at this point. Jim folded her arms defiantly.

"Nervous? I'm about to be shackled with someone I hardly know from Adam, and stuck with a mother-in-law I am sure has ties to Satan somehow," she turned to look passed her friend to the pinched face of Amanda Grayson, "no offense." She gave a sheepish smile. Jim nearly kicked her own backside. There were unfortunate times when she was rattled that she tended to say exactly what was on her mind and nothing else.

"None taken," Amanda replied deceptively light.

Jim knew instantly that she was screwed. This was a fantastic way to start a new familial relationship, even an unwanted one.

"I finally comprehend what Spock has seen in thee to take thee to mate," T'Pau interrupted blithely, "I approve."

"You would," Amanda hissed with a great deal of heat, but her face remained impassive.

Creepy.

Kirk nearly groaned when Amanda turned the full force of her blazing gaze toward the former Chief Engineer. She took solace in the fact that no one would be foolish enough to kill her with so many witnesses.

Although, it could potentially get her out of this bastardized delusion of a marriage... 'Hm, choices,' she thought half-seriously. Jim opened her mouth, on the verge of provoking the situation, but closed it again. Not three minutes later she opened it again, before the instinct of self-preservation ignited within her again. Curse her human nature, and excellent DNA.

She shifted from one foot to the next, trying in vain to calm her frayed nerves. Ever since Bones had dragged her spirits up and let her cry all over him, her soft spot for the grumpy Medical officer had only grown. It caused a pang of sadness in her heart to understand that she would not be touring the stars and exploring the great unknown void of space as she had planned to do with him. Though they were an unlikely friendship, Jim still valued it far more than she had ever admitted to anyone except herself.

"It won't be much longer," Bones rumbled out with a sour look of annoyance on his face. She understood he was trying to be reassuring. Trying being the operative word, because he was failing miserably and Jim was rather close to hysterics. After all, they were standing in an arena similar to where she had accidentally fought T'Pring.

'Well, the fighting had not been accidental', she conceded only slightly smugly, 'but the 'bonding' part certainly had been.' The recollection only caused her to growl slightly under her breath, with Nyota looking torn between mirth and tears. Jim wanted to relax, she truly did, for everyone else's sake if not her own; however, it felt for the entire world as if she were going to a funeral.

Her own.

Her 'suitors' were supposed to come out and have some… well, Jim wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen. It probably had been explained to her at one point, but she blamed the very obvious reason of being distracted for not recalling exactly what was going to happen here. She assumed something with fighting, since Vulcans were apparently closet brawlers in their culture.

Not that she was feeling a tad vicious or anything about this whole ordeal. Her? Never.

And, to her great dissatisfaction though not unexpected, The Wizard from the 'Wizard of Oz' was a liar. Clicking your heels three times and chanting 'There's no place like home,' did nothing except cause Vulcans to look at you as if you were either possessed or some sort of fascinating object. And, none of it tinged with the flirtatious looks of desire a woman could kind of use right now to bolster her mood.

Half of her hoped that they beat each other bloody and while they weren't looking she could just run like hell. And, that plan held merit until she remembered the nearly countless lives depending on her, an engineer from Riverside Iowa. Because that somehow just made perfect sense given that she was… well, James T. Kirk. Normally, when she told someone that anything could happen around her it was a sexual overture. Right now, it just seemed to be a sort of cruel irony.

She blamed her all too powerful Charisma for getting her into this mess in the first place. She sighed softly, at the thought. It was a curse to be so awesome.

Then that strange sensation of a force prowling through her thoughts took her focus away. She had been so focused on the feelings of worry, anxiety, resignation, and fondness for old memories she nearly missed it. Cautiously, she placed a hand to her temple, fighting off the sensation of fullness. Not exactly pain, more of a pressure combined with a keen but childish understanding that she was not alone.

It made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Jim's sapphire eyes flickered to Bones, whose attention was solely centered on glowering the surrounding Vulcans into submission. This consisted of Sarek, T'Pau, and several dignitaries or diplomats who faced a similar amount of Romulans on the other side of the arena. The blatant tension between the species could have been proverbially cut with a knife. All of them alternating between staring at each other and her.

So this is what hell was like. Well, Dante's Inferno had the blister heat part correct. Though, because she wasn't a betrayer she couldn't get a break and get some freezing ice. Then again, that thought only brought up her time with Maelrok and that made her shudder.

She felt a strange tug, almost like being yanked out of her train of thought forcefully, though it was not entirely an accurate description. It was more as if the 'thing' silently padding among her thoughts had recoiled in anger. Or surprise? Was it agitation?

A rush of a tight forming emotion coursed through her, it was so much more powerful than anything she had ever felt. It coiled lowly in her stomach and caused her nearly shake with ill-suppressed anger. Jealousy, she finally placed her finger on the emotion. It was jealousy.

Where the Hell had that come from?

Jim looked around with confusion and worry that she might possibly be going insane under the stress of all this. 'Please be something I ate,' she thought mildly stunned. Amanda had made something she deemed 'People safe' for breakfast since Jim hadn't eaten a true meal in a few days. It had been some strange gray yet orange mass. Kirk had briefly thought the lump was going to gurgle for help. She'd calmly taken a bite, and though waiting for something horrible to happen, had instead been treated to the oddly-familiar taste of chicken. That had nearly put her off the lump all together because Amanda had informed her it was a Vulcan root vegetable boiled down and mashed, akin to potatoes.

Now, she was considering if Lady Grayson might have poisoned her. Was it too much to hope she had? Jim nearly laughed at the thought. She was willing to take poisoning over this. She needed coffee, a trashy novel to cuddle up with, and possibly a kitten. Well, a kitten would be nice and calm. But a male with a willingness to please would be far more relaxing in a much different way.

That strange prodding to her thoughts increased and Jim whipped around.

What the Hell?

Spock stood behind her, every inch of him the respectable Vulcan standard. Except that instead of his uniform, the only thing she had ever seen him in, he wore a silver tunic of some sort with a silver helmet tucked under his right arm. She noted that he wore a colored sash around his waist and it was blue. For a brief moment she recognized that it matched the shade of her eyes. Before her gaze dipped lower to take in the metal boots he also wore. His dark hair was immaculate, and his eyes were daring her with a hint of danger.

Unconsciously Jim licked her lips and then caught the tender flesh between her teeth. Her cheeks flushed of their own accord. She scolded herself in her mind because; damn it all she was not supposed to react to this… this… Vulcan that had taken her away from her passion in life. Her beloved Enterprise with its top of the line Warp-Cores which Kirk had previously had plans of overhauling into something so new that it would make every other species heads turn.

Yet, undeniably, her heart hammered in her chest and her knees felt slightly weak. Jim drew on every single event between them that had led to feelings of anger, rage, disbelief, and betrayal. However, they seemed to pale in comparison to the way her body was reacting to him. She clamped down on her natural responses with a vengeance that would have made T'Pau proud. 'If such a thing were actually possible', she mused.

"Aduna," he rumbled lowly while nodding his head respectively.

Jim felt her mouth dry and her throat refused to move for a moment in time. Instead she stood facing him with her eyes glued to his frame, willing her lustful nature at bay so she didn't stare at his muscles rippling lithely under the tunic.

Oh my, none of her thoughts were anything but X rated by Orion standards right now.

Nyota leaned closer to Bones her words whisper-soft but Jim heard them anyway, "And… there's the natural Kirk response."

Jim craned her neck to stare balefully at the linguist. Her eyes promising retribution and a bodily harm… once she stopped staring at Spock. Because, really.

Hot damn.

'No, no. Focus Kirk. You still dislike this man for turning your life completely upside down… and look at him walk away… No! Keep the anger. Hold onto the anger!' She berated herself as she still caught herself ogling the Vulcan Captain as he walked away. 'Sleep deprivation,' she thought quickly, 'this is all caused by sleep deprivation.'

It was healthy to lie to oneself… sometimes.

Bones snorted and shook his head at her. Kirk felt properly chastised and settled for dredging up as much anger toward Spock as she could muster, but that strange prodding in her thoughts kept distracting her to staring at Spock longer than strictly needed.

It was not more than a few heartbeats later that a trumpet blared announcing the arrival of Maelrok. He was dressed in what Jim could only assume was ceremonial Romulan armor. It was intricately decorated with images of Birds, or was that a Raptor? She squinted but couldn't make out the finer details. The whole of his armor was gold and a black tunic or shirt was underneath. He held a fist to his chest, and then extended it toward her with a finger crooking at her.

"Consort, you shall not have long to wait," he winked at her roguishly.

She blinked, unamused.

T'Pau moved forward to the inner circle of the Arena, where on either side of her stood a suitor of Kirk's. Because this couldn't possibly be any more awkward than it already was, Jim decided just to observe and hope they maimed each other.

She glared and huffed in annoyance when T'Pau launched into some speech in hotiy-toity Vulcan. Jim ground her teeth at the thought that the Vulcan witch had likely done that on purpose. She frowned when she noted that everyone else apparently could follow along. Except for herself, and Bones.

"Don't look at me," he groused grumpily, "you're the one that picked this race Jim."

"Thanks Bones," she hissed, "I can always count on you to make me feel better.

"Naturally," he retorted sarcastically.

"Shh," Nyota interrupted, "I can't hear what she's saying."

Jim looked at her for a moment. "Hey, I just had a fantastic idea. You can translate for us Uhura. You know, like a linguist."

Uhura gave her a glare that had Jim looking everywhere but at her friend.

"I meant, would you please translate for us Uhura?" She employed her baby blues for extra measure. "Please?"

The linguist huffed. "T'Pau's stating the rules for the combat. It can be to the death, and traditionally is, however, because that would increase hostilities between there already at war species… the first one knocked unconscious will win you. And, neither side may dispute the outcome or seek vengeance. Everyone is just agreeing now."

Yes, because it was pretty damn easy to serve her up like some spoil of war. Bastards.

She saw more Vulcans emerge, ringing bells. She could recall what came next from her oh so thrilling encounter with T'Pring. And, she was not disappointed when the first fist flew out of nowhere and landed squarely on Spock's jaw. Kirk winced at the sound of the impact.

"Not bad," Bones murmured in appreciation.

She gave him a withering glance. "We're supposed to be rooting for the other one Bones."

"I'll get there," he retorted with a side-ways glare.

Spock flung himself at Maelrok as the tumbled to the red Vulcan sand below. His snarls of rage matched Maelrok's pitch for pitch. They struggled, hands clawing, punching, and gouging. Greed blood splattered on the sands from Maelrok's suddenly split lip. Spock pressed the advantage, and rolled the Romulan under him pummeling him with a series of blows the other tried to block.

The Romulan twisted and bucked, sending the Vulcan crashing to the ground. With a snarl Maelrok leapt on him, trying to choke Spock. Jim felt her heart beat slow, as fear for Spock tingled up her spine. She was actually worried for the Vulcan, though she chose to valiantly ignore it.

Spock swiped at Maelrok's head which knocked him off balance. They fumbled around on the ground a few moments longer.

"I can't watch," Jim whispered to Bones, and put her face in her hands.

"It's just getting to the good part."

"Dr. McCoy, that is still my son down there."

Bones cleared his throat awkwardly and Jim peeked through her fingers to see him blushing like a school boy. "My apologies Ma'am. I got caught up in the moment."

A growl rent the air and Jim looked to see Spock rising up from the sand, covered in small cuts and scratches. His eyes narrowed at Maelrok's unmoving form intently. The Romulan groaned and Spock lashed out, striking him in the side.

He turned to face T'Pau, with his breaths coming out in short pants. Jim hugged herself tightly in response to the sheer hunger in his gaze.

"The time has come. Kirk," T'Pau turned to look at her fiercely and it was the way she said 'Kirk' that had her rolling the 'r' slightly, "decide."

What?

Like now?

The human paced nervously for a moment, allowing her hand to rub over her tired face. A fine sheen of perspiration adorned her brow, causing her hand to come away clammy. She took a deep breath before releasing it and slowly walking forward, her steps far more confident than she felt.

She swallowed, and looked at the two bloodied fighters. Spock standing before her with his fingers steepled, and Maelrok passed out with green blood oozing from his side.

Her blue eyes snapped up toward Spock, who had not looked at her since entering the arena. She then turned to T'Pau, whose unforgiving gaze was still pinning her.

"I accept," she paused looking back to Spock's severe face once more, "the Victor."

T'Pau nodded her accent to the decision. "Here is resolved the combat for the woman James Kirk. As it was at the time of the beginning, so it has been."

The spectators said nothing. No grumbles of ill will, nor cheers of joy. All around her Kirk was eerily aware of silence and the predatory gaze of her 'husband' upon her. Dimly, she registered Maelrok being carried away by a few of his fellow Romulans. She flicked her gaze to the movement, behind Spock and T'Pau as her friends were led away by the Vulcan procession.

Even T'Pau turned away to follow, leaving Jim alone with Spock.

"Are you aware Aduna," he questioned softly, his gaze still intent upon her, "that you are she who is my wife? This cannot be contested again."

Jim blushed and looked slightly downward. "Yes, I am aware."

She saw his hands quiver as if to reach out for her. Jim held still despite her instincts screaming at her to run as if the hounds of hell were after her.

"Where has everyone gone?" She asked somewhat hesitantly.

"I have won you," he replied with a fraction of feeling in his voice. Jim's eyes widened at the emphasis in his words.

"I am aware of that," she cajoled gently, "but why have they all left?"

He stalked forward, with wild eyes and an intent that even a virgin could guess. And, Kirk was no virgin.

"Because for the sake of privacy, which my people value," he nearly growled, "I am within my rights to claim you. Now."

Jim felt her heart stop and her desire surge as his arms wrapped around her.

OoOoOo

Translations:

Aduna: Wife