The day was going pretty good, Jim thought, and he was in a good mood. He should have known, but in truth he was entirely gobsmacked when Uhura chased him down.
“Captain, is it true?”
“Is what true, Lieutenant?”
She grabbed his arm and brought him over to the side of the corridor.
“Spock got married?”
His heart dropped into his stomach and it was all he could do to maintain composure. “Excuse me?”
“On New Vulcan. You didn’t hear?”
Spock had taken a leave on New Vulcan as he’d been informed Sarek was ill. He’d been gone just over three weeks and Jim had been expecting him to return to the Enterprise in a week.
“Got married,” he repeated faintly.
“Yes. To a Vulcan woman. At Sarek’s insistence I understand.” She huffed. “I thought he’d given that all up when he decided to stay with us but now—”
Just before Spock left, he’d kissed Jim for the first time. They’d kissed a lot before he left, with the promise of more to come.
“Where did you hear this?” Jim forced himself to ask. “Was it a reliable source?”
Uhura pursed her lips. “Very reliable.” She glanced away for a moment, then back to him. “I was monitoring communications to Starfleet, and the Federation, sir, and—”
“Wait. You were listening in on classified communications””
She looked embarrassed. “They weren’t exactly classified. I’d been wondering how it was going there since we hadn’t heard anything and I became concerned.” She lowered her voice. “I thought for sure that the two of you…”
He straightened. “That’s really none of your concern, Lieutenant.”
“Maybe. But you’re my friends, my family and…I don’t know what to think.”
Jim nodded. “All right. What exactly did you hear?”
“That Sarek wanted to officially report his son’s marriage.”
“And?”
She shook her head. “There was nothing else.”
“How do you know it was to a Vulcan woman?”
“Spock told me the council, which Sarek was now a member of, was still pressuring him about marrying a Vulcan and procreating to help the population. Sarek said he could remain on the Enterprise even after bonding as his Vulcan mate probably wouldn’t require him other than their appointed time.”
“Ponn Far.”
“Yes,” she agreed softly. “Spock wasn’t entirely sure he would experience it. We discussed it at length back when we…well, when we considered bonding.”
Through it all Jim wasn’t sure how he managed not to choke on his own heart break, but he found himself nodding again.
“I guess we wait for Spock to learn what happened.”
“Yes, sir. Captain…Jim…I’m…”
He patted her shoulder. “I’ll be okay, Nyota. Return to duty.”
“Yes, sir.”
And for the next week Jim did his best to forget about the whole thing. If Spock had gotten married, well, Jim would move on. He had no intention of maintaining a relationship with Spock, even if Spock only had to go to his wife during “his time”.
Jim made sure he wasn’t available when Spock returned to the Enterprise because he just couldn’t deal with it yet, but he should have known Spock would come straight to his quarters.
Jim sighed and called enter after the computer told him it was Spock.
He forced a smile. “Welcome back, Mister Spock. I hear congratulations are in order.”
Spock tilted his head. “Congratulations, Captain?”
“Yeah. You got married on New Vulcan? Uhura overhead something about reporting it to Starfleet.”
Spock shook his head.
“You didn’t get married to a Vulcan woman to produce babies?”
“I did not.” Spock took a few steps forward. “Jim, it was my belief we are engaged in a romantic relationship of our own. Albeit only just started when I left.”
“Well…yeah.”
“Why would I then marry someone else?”
Jim was starting to feel a lot better but he was still confused. “But what did Uhura overhear then?”
Spock seemed thoughtful and then he took Jim’s hand. “I believe Nyota might have overheard my father speaking about Sybok.”
“Who?”
“My half-brother. He survived the destruction of Vulcan and though my father was estranged with him, we cannot afford such estrangements. Sybok bonded with a Vulcan woman while we were both there to see my father during his illness.”
Jim blew out a relieved breath. “Oh. Well. Oh. How is your dad?”
“He is recovering.”
“I’m glad to hear. And sorry I jumped to conclusions.”
Spock pulled him into an embrace and Jim relaxed against him. “I missed you.”
Jim smiled. “Yeah? I missed you too.”
Spock pulled back and looked into Jim’s eyes. “I did not get married on New Vulcan. However, perhaps it is time I told you about T’hy’la.”
“T’hy’la?”
“You might wish to sit down.”
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 