I said I’d do a flash for CIJ on the couple from Aftermath. So here they are. Living a quite happy life I think.

After getting out of bed and seeing to my morning routine, I expected to find my husband in the kitchen preparing our breakfast as he had been doing close to fifteen years now.

But when I came downstairs there was no sign of Spock. I frowned and went into the kitchen looking for evidence he had at least been there. He’d made me a pot of coffee and I spotted a discarded tea bag in the trash.

“Spock? Babe?”

There was no response and with a push at our bond, I decided Spock wasn’t in the house or even anywhere on the farm.

Strange.

He hadn’t told me he had any plans which wasn’t like Spock.  

I had learned over the years since I had finally agreed to bond with Spock, a good five years into our ordinary Earth marriage, that if Spock were too far away I could only get a sense that he was alive and well and not much more.

With a shrug, I poured myself coffee and then took it out to the front porch to sit and wait to see what my husband might be up to. We’d added cushioned lawn chairs there a few years back.

It was July and already too warm to sit there for long. But I couldn’t deny my curiosity.

It wasn’t like I could contact him on a communicator as we’d given up our Federation devices when we left Starfleet back after the fiasco where they accused me of things I’d never do.

Eventually, I spotted our hover car heading down the dirt road toward the farm, and I relaxed. Not that I really was that concerned. Spock could take care of himself better than anyone I knew and I knew he would never ever leave my side willingly.

Still it was nice to be right and nice to feel that relief at his return.

“Jim,” he greeted me as he stopped the hover car. “You are up a little earlier than I anticipated.”

“It’s after ten. How long did you think I’d sleep?”

“We were up late with…activities.”

I chuckled. “Sex, Spock. It’s just me, you can use plain language. And you were up just as late as me.”

“True.”

“Where’d you go?”

“To get a tree.” Spock paused. “Not very easy this time of year.”

“A tree? You mean to plant? Did you go to the garden center?”

“No.” Spock went to the back of the hover car. He opened the trunk and reached in. In a moment he pulled out about a five-foot pine tree in a pot.

I rose and shielded my eyes from the sun. “Is that…it looks like a Christmas tree.”

“Indeed.”

“Uh.”

Spock shrugged as he carried it toward their house. “I thought…once…some years back during a meld you shared with me a time where your family had celebrated Christmas in July.”

I smiled faintly. “Wasn’t that an afterglow meld?”

“Yes.”

I thought about it. It had been grandma’s idea. My dad’s mom. We were staying with her that summer, Sam and me, because Mom had just gotten married to the idiot and they were on their honeymoon. Which thinking about that part of it made me want to gag but you know.

I nodded. “Okay. But babe, wasn’t that meld like, I don’t know five years ago?”

“It was. But neither of us are getting any younger and I thought it would be a nice surprise.”

“Are you saying we won’t make it until real Christmas?”

“I certainly am not saying that.”

I snorted and hugged him, kissing his cheek. “I’m teasing. You’re too cute. You just want to keep me on my toes.”

“I simply intend to make every day, every year of our lives together as memorable and loving as I can,” Spock said, simply. “I still have a lot of mistakes to make up for.”

“Spock, babe, I don’t—”

“Please.”

I kissed him. ”I love you.”

“Then help me decorate our Christmas in July tree.”

I laughed and hugged him again. “You’re on!”