Lawful Obedience, Part Eighteen

by J. Rosemary Moss

Genre: Slash Fan Fiction (Star Trek)
Rating: PG-13

LINK TO PART ONE

~

Spock placed an awkward hand on McCoy's back and took the doctor's hand with his other. Both men were standing now, beginning to move to the soft music that Kirk had instructed Spock to play after dinner. Spock had expressed his doubts on the necessity of this dance—which, he noted, did not seem to have exercise as its object—but Jim had insisted, and Spock had been wise enough to bow to his wider experience in the world of romance.

The slow dance certainly had a pleasing affect on Dr. McCoy. Leonard was dancing quite close to Spock—in fact, he was soon placing his head on Spock's shoulder. And Spock could not bring himself to mind.

As the dance ended McCoy moved closer still. He lifted his head and pressed his lips against Spock's. Spock opened his mouth to the doctor, enjoying the desire that radiated from him. But he had not forgotten his mind meld with Lee, nor Lee's conviction there should be no sexual relations outside the confines of a marriage.

Spock broke off the kiss and stepped back from the doctor. He knew that he had to put distance between the two of them now. He could not keep himself from one lingering intimacy, however—he left his hands on Leonard's arms.

McCoy cocked his head at him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Doctor, I do not wish to engage in further intimacies with you at this time."

The doctor raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Are you sure about that? You could have fooled me."

Spock could not quite stop himself from blushing. McCoy didn't miss that blush—in fact, he treated Spock to a suggestive smile as the green tint to the Vulcan's skin darkened.

"I will rephrase my sentence," Spock informed him. "I do not think it wise for us to engage in further intimacies until we have formed a marriage bond."

McCoy's smile faded as he took that in. He took a step back from Spock and folded his arms across his chest. "I see," he managed. "But you mentioned the 'three-date' rule last night—what changed your mind about that?"

Spock considered how best to answer that. "There are several reasons. I must still break my betrothal to T'Pring. And there are..." he paused to sigh. "There are many aspects to a Vulcan marriage that I have yet to explain. It will take time to introduce you to them. I do not think we should engage in further intimacies until you've had a chance to consider them."

McCoy seemed to relax slightly at that. "And?" he prompted.

"When I performed the mind-meld on Yeoman Lee," Spock continued, "I learned that it is his considered opinion that sexual relations should occur only within the confines of a marriage. And while his own marriage suffered difficulties, I believe that most humans would consider it successful. It was certainly lasting and affectionate. I wish the same success for us."

That brought a smile to the doctor's face. "As do I," he said. "And believe me, Spock, I will remain faithful to you—just as faithful as Lee was to his wife. There's no question about that."

He paused and looked Spock in the eye. "And I understand about T'Pring. If you want to wait until you've got that sorted out, fine. But I don't think we need to wait till we're married. Hell, if it weren't for T'Pring, I'd have said we wouldn't even have to wait for three dates."

Spock frowned at that. "Although Jim made it clear that the three-date-rule does not apply between two men—"

"Hold up," McCoy interrupted. "That's—look, that's just Jim. Our captain is a good man, Spock—one of the best. And he's the best man to go to if you're looking for advice on how to wine and dine someone. Romance a person, I mean. But…"

McCoy paused and flashed Spock a rueful grin. "But Jim's not great at sustaining a relationship. And he's wrong to assume that two men should just fall into bed with each other. On the other hand, he was right to encourage us to forget about the three-date rule—he's right for the wrong reasons, but he was still right. Or he would have been right if it weren't for T'Pring," he corrected, half to himself. "She throws everything off-kilter."

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow at that. "Specify, Doctor. Why, were it not for T'Pring, should we have ignored the three-date rule?"

"We didn't just meet," McCoy explained. "We wouldn't have been just falling into bed together."

Spock's frown deepened. "Your overall point, I believe, is that our captain is not skilled at forming lasting romantic relationships?"

"Well, that's certainly one point," the doctor confirmed.

"Yeoman Lee, on the other hand, is quite skilled at forming a lasting romantic relationship?"

"Ah, yes," McCoy admitted slowly. "I suppose I'd go along with that."

Spock nodded. "Excellent doctor—that solves our dilemma. Our logical course, if we wish to create a lasting romantic relationship, is to follow Lee's opinion on this matter."

McCoy covered his face with his hands and groaned. Spock watched with interest as the doctor collapsed backwards onto his bunk. The Vulcan was unable to determine whether McCoy was close to laughter or tears.

"Doctor, I do not understand why you are subjecting me to this melodramatic behavior. You have told me that Lee is a hero of yours. Why should you be reluctant to adopt his opinion on this matter?"

McCoy put his hands down. His face wore an expression that was halfway between amusement and exasperation. "Served with my own sauce," he muttered.

Spock cocked his head at him. "Doctor?"

"You win, Spock," McCoy informed him as he placed his right hand over his heart. "You have played on my natural Southern chivlary, sir...and, to be honest, I can't help but admire you for it."

He paused and regarded Spock with an appreciative gleam in his eyes. "I'm a good son of the South," he insisted. "And as such I'm fully aware that everything General Lee thinks or says is right, just and holy. We'll wait until we're married."

Spock thought that perhaps McCoy was overstating the case, but he was wise enough not to risk his victory. Besides, he was not sure how much the doctor was purposely exaggerating.

"Come here, Spock," McCoy said suddenly, patting the space next to him on the bunk.

The Vulcan hesitated.

"Don't worry," McCoy said wryly. "I won't try to steal your virtue. I'd just like to be near you—that's all. We can talk for a while."

Spock nodded and cautiously took the seat that the doctor indicated. After a moment's awkwardness, he relaxed and placed a tentative arm around McCoy's shoulders, allowing the human to lean against him.

"So tell me what you thought about Romeo and Juliet," McCoy said, shutting his eyes as he nestled into the crook of Spock's arm.

The Vulcan sighed. "As I suspected, I did not find it 'romantic.'"

McCoy grinned. "Now why am I not surprised? Go ahead, Spock—explain just why the most famous romantic play isn't, in fact, romantic."

Spock unconsciously pulled Leonard a bit closer to him. "If you can manage to keep quiet for a few minutes, Doctor, I shall endeavor to do so."

~

Bones nestled against Spock, enjoying the warmth of the Vulcan. They were half sitting and half lying down now, and Bones had found the perfect spot for his head in the crook of Spock’s arm. And he’d found the perfect resting spot for one of his hands on Spock’s chest.

If Spock was all human instead of half-Vulcan, Bones would have been able to feel his heart beat against his hand—but Spock’s heart was roughly where a human’s liver would be. Bones wondered, not for the first time, just why Spock’s physiology took so much after his Vulcan half.

The answer, in all likelihood, was that Spock had been—well, designed that way. It must have taken quite a bit of genetic engineering to bring about a child from a Vulcan’s sperm and a human’s egg, after all. There was little chance that Spock’s conception had occurred naturally.

McCoy mentally shook himself. He had a bad habit, sometimes, of thinking about Spock as if he were a specimen in a lab. Not that he could help that—he was entitled to a degree of medical curiosity, wasn’t he? But he reminded himself that it didn’t matter how Spock was conceived. All that mattered was that Spock was here.

He was here and he was turning out to be decidedly old-fashioned. Now who would have guessed that? Of course, that was partly due to Lee's influence. Not that Bones minded. There were good reasons that he and Spock should wait till their marriage before they engaged in 'further intamices.' He made a mental note, however, to explain to the Vulcan that delicious punishments didn't count. Bones fully intended to end up over Spock's knee again.

Preferably soon.

But, thinking back to Lee, Bones knew that he couldn't allow these two men to influence each other too far. Both Lee and Spock were too invested in rigidly controlling their emotions. And while a certain amount of control was healthy and necessary, those two would likely push each other to extremes.

Yes, he'd have to keep an eye on both men.

“And Romeo’s attachment to Juliet was not long-standing,” Spock was saying, continuing his diatribe against any ‘romantic’ notions in the play. “He was what humans call ‘in love’ with Rosalind at the beginning of the play. But he forgot her in an instant once he saw Juliet.”

“Well, in fairness, Rosalind was determined to become a nun,” Bones pointed out. “It wouldn’t have been very logical of Romeo to continue his passion for her.”

Spock considered that. “That is true,” he owned. “But that does not excuse the illogic of transferring his affections to the daughter of his father’s enemy.”

“But that’s the point, Spock,” Bones objected. “Romeo didn’t see her as an enemy. These kids didn’t care about that private war between their fathers. They were just head over heels in lust with each other. And I’ll tell you something—it might have worked out for them.”

“If Mercutio had not died—and if Romeo had not killed Tybalt in retaliation—then perhaps,” Spock agreed. “The play does seem more like one of Shakespeare’s comedies until Mercutio’s death.”

“Yeah,” Bones said, closing his eyes as he thought back to the actor who had played that madcap character. “But once he dies—well, then it’s like watching a train wreck. You can’t take your eyes off of it, but you know it won’t end well.”

“I still see nothing ‘romantic’ in the mutual suicides of the young couple,” Spock said.

“Oh, I agree,” McCoy said, opening his eyes again. “But the romance comes from the way the kids fall for each other; from the way they can’t keep their hands off of each other; from their determination to marry, despite the idiotic war between their parents; and from the chances they’re willing to take just to be together.”

“And yet such was their undoing,” Spock pointed out. “Mercutio may have been correct to mock Romeo’s excessive passions.”

Bones laughed. “All right—if you want to take Mercutio’s side, you can make a case for saying that Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare’s statement against romance and passion. Except for one thing.”

“Which is?” Spock asked.

“What if Mercutio wasn’t as anti-love and anti-passion as he pretended to be? What if—despite all those filthy heterosexual puns of his—he was carrying a torch for Romeo?”

Spock shifted a bit and stared down at him. “Why would Mercutio carry Romeo’s torch?”

Bones rolled his eyes and gave the Vulcan a playful punch. “What if he was actually in love with Romeo?”

“Then his death would be rendered all the more tragic, Doctor. And the play, in its entirety, would still serve as a warning against excessive passions.”

Bones couldn’t help but laugh again. “I suppose you’re picturing Shakespeare as a cool, rational disciple of Surak.”

Unless McCoy was losing his mind, there was a definite gleam of mischief in Spock’s eyes as he answered. “Shakespeare could not possibly have been familiar with Surak, Doctor—”

Bones laughed yet again and pulled Spock into a kiss. Spock returned the kiss with enthusiasm before gently breaking off from him. But the Vulcan’s expression became troubled as he stared down at him.

“Leonard,” he asked, “why did your marriage fail?”

There was a long moment of silence. “That’s a long story,” Bones said at last. “Or a very short one, depending on how you look at it. I suppose the simple answer is that we were too young—and we were more in lust than in love.”

Spock tilted his head at him. “It would seem that you made the same error as Romeo and Juliet.”

But Bones shook his head at that. “No—I suspect that Romeo and Juliet really were in love and not just in lust. Jocelyn and I weren’t so lucky.”

Spock seemed to consider that. “Leonard, you must be certain that you wish to bond with me for life before we proceed. Divorce is a near impossibility in a Vulcan marriage. And even if distance separates us, our bond will remain in tact.”

Bones reached up and traced the outline of Spock’s face with his finger. “You’re telling me that I can’t make a mistake this time? That I’ll be stuck with you no matter what?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Well, I like the idea of being stuck with you, Spock. I—I did a terrible thing to Jocelyn and our daughter. When things got hard, I ran out.”

He paused and sighed as memories bombarded him. “At that time, I couldn’t see another option. Jocelyn—well, I discovered that she had sought consolation from our, ah, marital problems elsewhere. I can’t even blame her for that. But I couldn’t stick around…even though I should have, for Joanna’s sake. So I took the coward’s way out and ran off to Starfleet.”

“Do you regret that?” Spock asked.

Bones shrugged. “Sometimes. Other times I think it was for the best. I wouldn’t have done Joanna any favors by forcing her to grow up with parents who turned her house into a war zone.”

He paused again and took a deep breath. “I know this much, Spock. You and I have something that Jocelyn and I never did—friendship. Back when I married Jocelyn, I didn’t understand that friendship is the most important part of a marriage. But I do understand that now. And I know something else.”

“And that is?” Spock prompted.

“I don’t want the chance to run away again,” Bones answered.

Spock stared at him for what seemed an eternity. But at length he nodded and then shifted again so that Bones could once again rest his head in the crook of the Vulcan’s arm.

"I almost wish we could bond right now," Bones whispered.

"No, Doctor," Spock responded, pausing only to kiss the top of McCoy's head. "There is too much at stake to move that quickly."

Bones shut his eyes, thinking about all he had to learn. “I know. But I’m staying for the night,” he muttered. “Even if you won’t sleep with me, you’ll have to put up with sleeping by my side.”

“I do not mind, Doctor,” Spock assured him. “Computer, shut off lights.”

Bones grinned at that and allowed himself to drift off.

LINK TO PART NINETEEN