I’m thinking only a few more parts of this after this one. Maybe 2-3 flashes to make up the final chapter.

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“I have some questions for you if you don’t mind,” Jim told Amanda later that morning as he dug into a plate of surprisingly good replicated eggs and potatoes.

They were seated at the marble dining room table in her kitchen. Spock had been summoned to speak with his father so it was just the two of them.

She smiled encouragingly as she took a bite of her blueberry scone. “Go ahead.”

“What’s it like being bonded to a Vulcan?”

“Has Spock asked you to bond with him?’

Jim laughed. “Nope. But he did take me to the ceremonial area and assured me it wasn’t intended to mean anything.”

“Ah.” She nodded. “I see.”

Jim ate another bite of potatoes. “Did you do that whole thing when you bonded with Sarek?”

“Oh, no.” She shook her head and smiled. “They were adamantly against it involving an outsider, you see. Sarek was considered a rebel when he chose to marry me. He’d been previously bonded to a Vulcan, but she died in childbirth many years ago.”

“Spock has a half-sibling?’

“Yes, although we never talk about Sybok. Let’s just say he is not close to the family. Anyway when Sarek and I decided to marry he wished for it to include a bond. The elders refused to do an official bonding ceremony with a Human involved, so Sarek bonded us himself.”

“So I’d guess Spock would run into a similar situation should he ever decide to bond with me.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps. But attitudes change all the time and elders die off and are replaced with more modern thinking Vulcans. It is hard to know for sure.”

“What’s the bond itself like? Is it painful or uncomfortable?”

“Heavens, no. Never. It’s probably not what you’re imagining. At least based on what my own hesitations were about. I feared it would be intrusive.”

“It’s not?”

“No. Most of the time it merely feels like a warm mental hug, if that makes any sense. I can get a sense of Sarek’s emotional state—”

“Wait, emotions?”

She laughed. “Of course, dear. If he’s upset, I can generally feel it. Anger. Even gladness. Those emotions, I sense those. But I don’t get random things like, ‘I’ll be home by four’.”

It was Jim’s turn to laugh. “That would be helpful.”

“Yes, it would. But it doesn’t really work that way. We can get each other’s direct thoughts only during melds, otherwise it’s just the emotional sense as I said. Or the warm hug. And none of it is painful. A meld is very personal and likely varies from bonded pair to bonded pair. It is nothing to fear.”

“Thanks, Amanda. I appreciate you answering my probably invasive questions.”

“Not at all. I suspect you will need this information yourself soon.”

“I don’t know. Like I said he hasn’t asked.”

“I know my son and he feels deeply for you, Jim. You’ll see.”