Disclaimer – If I could claim Star Trek as my own I would

CHAPTER ONE

Earth Time, Late March 2265 – USS Enterprise, in orbit above New Vulcan, part of the Confederacy of Surak*

McCoy had one hell of a hangover. The irony of being in such a state from a Vulcan wedding reception was not lost on him. Well he supposed a combined Vulcan/Human ceremony was the reason the event did not bore him to death. It was generous of Admiral Pike to invite not only Kirk, Spock and Uhura but the rest of the alpha bridge crew as guests and arrange shore leave for the rest of them.

That Cast Cow clan or whatever their name is are a pretty interesting group of Vulcans. He mused. Seems they carried enough clout on the planet to be left to their own devices, even if they were called, what was that term, 'Vertash Kay Tar'? A bunch of Vulcans who showed their government their version of the two fingered salute was alright by him. Both sides operated on a 'you don't bother us and we won't bother you' policy for thousands of years. Being well known agriculturists and holding a monopoly on what was left of the Vulcan cargo service more likely helped as well.

It was worth it to see the strained look on Spock's face being at the ceremony, among full blooded Vulcans who seemed at ease with emotional expression. But he even had to admit their interpretation of IDIC was 'fascinating.' Uhura loved the whole day; she admitted it gave her some ideas for their own African wedding. Spock's response was he hoped the groom's participation of a limbo dance at their ceremony was not compulsory.

Pike had married a Vulcan hybrid female whose mother was of Earth Caribbean heritage. The new Mrs Seria Pike was born and raised on Earth and seemed more comfortable in her mixed race skin in comparison to Spock. Both sides of her heritage were reflected in the celebrations. She was a very pretty lady, she may not smile openly with her lips but she definitely smiled with her eyes.

Well emotional Vulcan or not, he wished the Admiral all the best. It took a braver man than him to marry a Vulcan, mixed race or otherwise. McCoy could just about handle human females, handling alien ones was way out of his league. Nah he would stick to practising medicine, keeping Kirk out of trouble and try to be the best father he could be to his daughter Joanna. They would have three long months together before he headed off to the stars again and she headed back to boarding school.

He decided to head to sickbay to clear his hangover. Looks like he was going solo tonight. Spock and Uhura flew to another part of the planet to visit his clan, Kirk and Marcus were doing the 'on again' part of their 'on again, off again' relationship. Scotty was still at the reception trying to drink all the non humans under the table and failing badly. Hang on, maybe he should take Gaila up on her offer, she was having a little private party of her own. If she promised to get rid of that giant Tellarite she hooked up with, they could catch up on old times….all night.

Author's Notes –

First apologies for taking so long to get back to this story, thanks for your patience. I hope to keep updating this weekly.

Pike's wedding is mentioned in chapter 29 'Looking for ashau' story.

*As per Memory Alpha in STID movie

Note to guest reviewer - canon has never stated Spock is the only Vulcan-Human in the galaxy and even if it does fanfiction exists to recreate the ST universe in the image of the writer. Considering Vulcans and Humans have been allies since 2063 according to canon I doubt very much Sarek was the first Vulcan to find humans 'fascinating' that concept is valid for others but for me its illogical. In the real world even humans have relationships between ethnicities aka races, e.g President Obama is the most famous bi-racial human (black/white parentage) in existence but no one would expect him to be the only one. One more point, my VH characters were born before Vulcan's destruction so a few of these characters in a reality where 6 billion Vulcans are meant to exist is definitely not a lot.