Reading Time: 117 Minutes

Title: All That We Are
Author: Meri
Fandom: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: First Time, Future Fic / Post-Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Science Fiction, Slash
Relationship(s): Christopher Pike/Leonard McCoy
Content Rating: R
Warnings: Canon-level Violence, Explicit Sex, Xenophobic speech (minor character(s)), discussions of child abuse (past), parental violence against a teen (past), mental health issues, drug-induced compliance (minor character).
Beta: Grammarly & Text Aloud
Word Count: 91,603
Summary: Spock arranges for Doctor Leonard McCoy to do emergency, life-saving surgery after Fleet Captain Christopher Pike is severely injured when the baffle plate ruptures during a cadet training inspection. Eighteen months later, Pike and McCoy meet again, and Pike is still recovering from the accident and in varying degrees of pain.

The bond that spontaneously forms between them is powerful and profound. It changes the course of their lives. They will need to learn to navigate their new relationship and all the surrounding circumstances that come with the bond. Family and friends are there to help. And some surprising enemies want to take away what they have found.
Artist: Tpena19

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Chapter Ten – The Magic of That Moment

It was the night before the wedding. All participants were meeting at Chris’ house, so Amelia and Eleanora could go over what everyone was supposed to do the following day. After that, they would all share a meal. Chris had ordered Italian food to be delivered for dinner. There was half an hour before everyone else was supposed to be here. Most of Len’s family were staying with them, so they were all gathered in the living room, waiting for everyone else.

Chris was on edge. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but as the hour stretched later, his nerves became more stressed.

“I’m sorry,” Chris said, failing to follow the conversation. “What was that again?”

“You’re very distracted, son,” Eleanora said. She’d started to add ‘son’ as an endearment. At first, it startled him, but he liked the warm feeling it evoked. And how naturally she said it.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. But I am feeling Len’s absence,” Chris said, attempting to smile at her.

“How long have you been apart?” Eleanora asked.

“About fifteen or sixteen hours,” Chris said. “I’m not sure we’ve been apart that long before.”

“You may have reached your bond’s limit,” Beth said. “With Billy-Ray and I, we didn’t have a problem with that. But we were younger and didn’t live together. Though mostly, we saw each other every day. There were times, like family vacations and other travel, when we didn’t see each other for as much as a week.”

“It might also have to do with when or how you established the bond,” Eleanora suggested. “It seems to manifest differently with everyone. So, there’s no telling for sure.”

That it was different with everyone was something he’d heard over and over. But with everyone here, there should be some things in common. Chris looked at them. “How did you establish the bond? William said that you met in high school.”

“We did,” William said. “But we didn’t do anything other than kiss each other for the first couple of years. We were too young for more than that.”

“So, establishing the bond requires sex?” Chris asked. And he and Len had sex for the first time within twenty-four hours of meeting.

“It did for us,” William said, and then hesitated and looked at Beth, who nodded. “But it was simple kissing, exploring, and touching.”

Chris could extrapolate the rest. “Everyone has said, almost from the beginning, that our bond was established and felt old. And while all of the evidence is antidotal, it’s agreed that the bond settles completely when we get married.”

“Len sent me what your brother had done, but that was mostly a compilation of what is known here on Earth,” William said. “I do know that empathy and empathic bonds exist in other worlds. And it emerged on Earth after we developed warp and started to explore the galaxy.”

Chris looked up at him. That was something he hadn’t thought about, and given their upbringing, Jon probably would not have thought to look at other worlds at all. “Can you give me a list of planets? Because Len and I have an established documented bond, we may be able to request information from them.”

“Are you going to have Lenny research it?” Beth asked.

“He is already looking into it. Maybe he can work with Jonathan on it,” Chris said. Because if anyone could figure this out, it would be Len.

“I know we keep saying this, but every couple is different,” Amelia added. “Grant and I met as adults, well, in our early twenties. We started to establish the bond within a few days of meeting. But like William and Beth, we had no problem being apart for a few days. We never went longer than that in the beginning. Since then, I have traveled off-world without Grant several times. But that was at least a year or possibly longer after we were married. I suspect the bond must be completely settled before you can travel any great distance without your partner.”

“How long before the bond settles?” Chris asked. It wasn’t getting any easier to ask questions, but he wanted some answers, and these people were his closest family. “How do you tell when it’s settled?”

“This might not make sense, but you’ll feel it settle,” Beth said, and William nodded.

“It took about a year after we were married,” William added. “There was a noticeable difference.”

“Amelia?” Chris asked.

“Less than a year after we were married. Maybe eight or nine months,” Amelia said. “I’m not sure any of this will apply to you both since you’re so much older than we were when we established our bonds.”

Well, that made a sort of sense. Now, though, Chris needed to be with Len for at least a short time. He wanted to just kiss him and touch him. “When Len gets back here, I think we’ll need to be alone for a few minutes.”

William laughed. “I think it will be more than a few minutes.”

“What am I supposed to do, just take him upstairs?” Chris asked. That seemed unforgivably rude.

“Basically, yes,” Beth said. “I think you’re going to need some time alone. Whenever Billy-Ray and I were apart for a long time, we needed to be alone together. But I don’t think we felt it quite like you do now. I can only assume you’re going to need more time.”

“I don’t think you can fight it,” William said. And Beth nodded. “I think it will be easier if you just let it happen.”

The door opened and closed.

Chris stood and met Len at the edge of the living room, wrapped his arms around him, and kissed him. What he thought was going to be a quick kiss held for a while, and he didn’t want to let go. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, everyone seemed to be right, and they needed to be alone.

He felt desperate for Len’s touch and could feel that Len felt just as desperate as he was.

There was a whole room full of people watching them, and Chris didn’t care. He put his head on Len’s shoulder and just breathed in. “I don’t think we’ve been apart this long before.”

Len’s arms tightened. “I don’t know how I ever thought I would be able to go back out with the Enterprise.”

“I don’t either,” Chris moved his head to kiss him again. “This feels like the bond is stressed, and now it won’t let me let you go.”

“The bond feels needy,” Len agreed, his arms tightening on Chris’ back.

“Go upstairs for a bit,” Amelia suggested. “We’ll start to work out the details for tomorrow. The food should be here shortly, and so should everyone else.”

Len nodded, his arms loosening but not dropping. “I need a shower, anyway. I did back-to-back emergency surgeries. A cadet training accident, and then another cadet in a shuttle accident. That’s why I’m late.”

“Sorry. I feel like this is very rude of us,” Chris said, sighing. He didn’t feel as uncomfortable or embarrassed as he should have. It was not as if they had a choice.

“We understand,” Amelia said. “We’ll explain to the rest of the wedding party when they arrive.”

They stepped back from each other. And went up the stairs.

Chris engaged the privacy screens and turned to Len, who was right behind him. He was pressed into the wall, and Len’s mouth covered his. His arms slid around Len’s back, holding him tightly, his hand gripping Len’s shirt hard, the other sliding under it to touch the bare skin of Len’s back. The kiss was deep, with Len’s tongue pressing into Chris’ mouth.

They kissed for several long minutes. Each kiss was deeper, and Len’s grip on him tightened, his thigh pressing between Chris’ legs. Chris moaned and pushed into his thigh. His hands moved under Len’s clothes, desperate to touch him.

“Easy. Easy. I’m here.” He panted against Len’s mouth.

Len gentled the kiss after another second or two. His hands eased their grip. He raised his head. “I don’t know what to do with what I’m feeling right now.”

Chris huffed out a laugh. “Me neither. And we have a house full of people. At least most of them understand what’s happening to us.”

“I hate to rush through sex with you, but I feel like we need to do something right now.” Len laughed. “I’m grimy from the surgeries. I don’t think I’m going to get a shower in before we –”

Chris just kissed him quickly and started to pull off his own clothes. “Sweaty and grimy is fine. I’m not going to care. I promise you.”

When they were naked, Len pushed him down onto their bed, climbing on top of him. Chris wrapped his arms and legs around Len, trying for as much skin-to-skin contact as possible. For a few minutes, they just lay there, kissing, the connection between them relaxing. Chris snagged the lube from the bedside table and put some on his hands.

His slick hands reached for Len as Len’s hands reached for him. They stroked each other quickly, and it was short and hot and somehow still sweet. Chris closed his eyes and gave in to the need inside him with a groan. He heard Len swear as well.

It took a couple of minutes to catch his breath. “We both need a shower now and then to get back downstairs to see to our guests,” Chris said.

Len laughed. “God, we’re like teenagers who can’t control themselves.”

“Don’t complain. I am deeply grateful for our bond,” Chris said, sitting up reluctantly and putting a hand on his back to rub it. He was a little stiff. “We should shower.”

“I guess so.” Len also sat up and put a hand on Chris’ back, fingers splayed. “Okay?”

“Yes. Thanks. I’m fine,” Chris said, reaching out and pulling Len to him, kissing him again.

*****

The next evening, Chris stood at the back of the ballroom, waiting to be told it was time to walk up the aisle. To get married. To someone he’d known for just over two months. How was that even possible?

As much as Chris was grateful and delighted to have Len in his life, when he thought too hard about how much had happened in so short a time, he found it nearly overwhelming. They’d been moving at warp speed and hadn’t had time to take a breath or consider all the implications of what had happened. And there was no stopping now.

But it was Len. Even if Chris didn’t know all the details yet, he did know that Len meant everything to him. And that Len felt the same way about him. They were in this together.

“It’s too late to panic now,” Una said with a lot of amusement. She put a hand on his arm. “You’re doing this.”

Chris nodded and gave her a half-smile. “I know. I’m just not sure how this happened.”

“I believe I am to blame, Chris,” Spock said. He also seemed amused, but it wasn’t as evident as Una’s reaction. “I did bring Doctor McCoy here to help you.”

“In many, many ways, Spock,” Chris said, smiling at him. “I will never be able to repay you for that.”

“I believe you told me once, more than once, that friends do not expect or need to be repaid,” Spock said.

“Thank you,” Chris said. “Where’s Phil?”

“Here,” Phil said from behind him. “Are you ready? Amelia will be here in a minute. When the music starts, so does Una, then Spock, then me, then you, Amelia, and Grant.” He looked at Chris. “Where’s your cane?”

“I’m good without it for a while,” Chris said. He had it with him and would probably need it later, but he would walk up the aisle to get married without it, and later, he would dance with Len without it.

Phil smiled and squeezed his arm. “That’s great. You’ve come so far.”

“Thanks. For everything,” Chris said, putting his hand over Phil’s.

“Ready?” Amelia asked. She was dressed in her dress uniform, and so was Grant.

“The music should start soon,” Grant said.

And it did. Una started down the aisle, and Spock followed her.

Phil put a hand on Chris’ arm as he started.

“We’re up,” Chris said, putting one of his arms through Grant’s and the other through Amelia’s. “Thank you both for everything. Not just the wedding, but everything in the last couple of years. I’m not sure I would be here today without your help.”

“We’re your family. This is what we do,” was all Amelia said.

“And we’re thrilled to be here and to help you and Len celebrate tonight,” Grant said.

They stepped off together and walked slowly down the aisle. Chris’ heart pounded as they approached Bob. Amelia kissed his cheek when they reached the end of the aisle, and Grant hugged him. They both sat down in the front row. Chris took a deep breath and turned towards Bob, who smiled at him. Phil stepped beside him, and Spock and Una were on Phil’s other side.

The music rose again, and William, dressed in a dark blue dinner jacket, started down the aisle. Beth came next dressed in a floor-length gown that matched William’s suit. Jim wore his dress uniform.

And then came Len and his mom. She was beautiful in a gown that matched Beth’s, but it was Len who he could not take his eyes off. He looked magnificent. Chris had seen him in his dress uniform before, of course, but now, he just radiated happiness. And it mirrored Chris’ own joy at what was happening.

The actual ceremony was kind of a blur for Chris. He answered the traditional questions that were asked. Yes. He did take Len as his husband. Jim handed Len the rings. Len took his hand and slid his wedding ring onto his finger, swearing an oath similar to his proposal. Chris took Len’s hand and did the same.

When it was done, Bob said, “It is my pleasure to present Christopher and Leonard Pike-McCoy.”

They were only supposed to kiss briefly, but that wasn’t how things worked with them. Chris slid his hands onto Len’s face and looked at him for a moment. Then he brought his mouth to Len’s, touching his tongue to Len’s bottom lip, and his mouth opened for Chris. He pressed in, kissing Len softly and then with more pressure.

Len made a pleased humming sound, and his arms tightened around Chris, pulling him closer. The kiss deepened, and Chris knew with his one working brain cell that he was about to fall into it for all he was worth. Len’s arms loosened, and clearly, he was thinking the same thing. He leaned in and kissed Chris’ mouth a couple more times but finally opened his eyes and stepped back.

There was clapping and cheering, and Chris just smiled at Len. “Later,” Chris mouthed against Len’s mouth.

And a grin stretched across Len’s face. “I’ll hold you to that promise,” he whispered. “But now, we need to go back down the aisle and then into the other part of the room.” Len took Chris’ hand. “Then a receiving line.”

“Who thought that was a good idea,” Chris asked, picking up his cane from where he’d left it and stepping back into the aisle to move to the reception area. He’d already been on his feet for an hour and wanted to have that first dance with Len. That meant he’d need to find somewhere to sit for a little while.

“This is what we get for letting momma, Beth, and Amelia do all the work,” Len said, putting his hand on Chris’ back. “Are you okay, my darlin’?”

“I’m fine,” Chris said.

“Chris, Len,” Amelia said when they’d all reached the back of the room. “Stand here. And Chris, there’s a stool behind you when you need it.”

“How long are we here?” Len asked.

“Twenty to thirty minutes,” Amelia said. “Then cocktails and appetizers. Then dinner. Then dancing. Then the cake.”

“You’ve got this all planned out,” Chris said. “Thank you again.”

“Eleanora was a tremendous help. She is so incredibly organized.”

“That’s my momma,” Len said with a laugh. He leaned down and kissed Eleanora on the cheek.

Amelia and Eleanora introduced everyone whom Len or he didn’t know. Which was a surprising number of people at his own wedding. And everyone was either a friend of theirs, a crew member, or a relation of some kind.

Jonathan had made it back for the wedding. And he seemed much happier than the last time Chris had seen him. He hugged Chris. “Congratulations!” he said as he pulled back.

“I’m glad you could make it, Jon,” Chris said. “Thanks.”

“I was glad you invited me, Chris. I would not have missed this,” Jonathan said, smiling. And holding his hand out to Len. “Congratulations, Doctor McCoy.”

“Pike-McCoy,” Len said, smiling widely. “But why don’t you just call me Len?”

“You should call me Jon.” And he started to move away and then turned back. “When you get back from your honeymoon, we should discuss the research.”

“That would be great,” Len said. “We should be back in about a week.”

Jon moved down the line.

*****

A while later, towards the end of the line, Kate Pike came through. Chris grinned at her, pleased to see she had made it.

“Congratulations, Chris. I’m so happy for you,” she said and hugged him. She turned to Len and hugged him as well.

“Commander Katherine Pike, this is my momma, Eleanora McCoy,” Len said, turning slightly to his mom.

Kate turned to smile at her, and her smile faltered slightly. Eleanora’s eyes widened. But Kate stood up straighter and said, “It’s good to meet you, ma’am.” And held out her hand.

Eleanora took it and smiled at her. “Good to meet you as well, Commander.”

And then she moved on. “Momma?” Len asked. “What just happened.”

“I am sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said sharply, taking a deep breath, then clearing her throat. “Nothing happened, son. I’m fine.”

Len looked skeptical but said nothing else.

Amelia was watching and said, “I think it’s time we got some appetizers and a drink. She took Eleanora’s arm and led her away.

They moved off to the side. Chris slipped his hand into Len’s. “I’ve never asked. How old is your mom?”

“Sixty-three. Why?” Len asked, looking at Eleanora and Amelia talking. Kate came over to stand with them.

“Kate is fifty-four,” Chris said. He had a guess about what just happened. Kate had looked like what Chris had felt like the first time he’d looked into Len’s eyes. Looking back on it, he knew something in him had reached out to something in Len.

“That’s a couple of years off from the age gap between us,” Len mused.

Really? Why didn’t he know that? Because, Chris laughed, “I don’t know how old you are.”

“Seriously? How could you not know that?” Len asked, then said, “Though I don’t know when your birthday is.”

“August 8th. When is yours? All I know is that it’s in October,” Chris said, feeling kind of ridiculous that neither of them thought to ask these questions.

“October 28th,” Len said and then paused. “You should be forty-seven?”

Chris nodded. “How old are you?”

“Forty-one,” Len leaned in and kissed him. “I can’t believe we are exchanging this information at our wedding.”

“We asked and answered so many questions. How did we end up missing the obvious questions? Like age and birthday,” Chris asked. “Though, I could surmise that you were at least forty. William said he’d known you for twenty-five years and had met you at fifteen.”

Len nodded. “I’ve got to think that at this point in our lives, six years doesn’t matter. And you and I concentrated on other things.”

“Oh, we sure did. And I plan to concentrate hard on you as soon as we’re done here. There’s a whole suite up at the top of this building that we are going to make use of later,” Chris promised.

“I will be holding you to that. But first, there are appetizers, cocktails, dinner, and dancing. And I am looking forward to all of it,” Len said, kissing him again. “Do you want to sit for a few minutes, and I’ll get you a drink and some food?”

Chris might be doing better than he’d been, but he’d just been on his feet for longer than he was used to. “Yes, thanks.”

He sat at the table that had been reserved for him and Len. Everyone else was mingling around. Eleanora and Kate were sitting at one of the small tables and talking.

“How are you doing?” Amelia asked, sitting down next to him.

“I’m fine. I am in less pain lately than I had been even a few weeks ago. Apparently, by slacking off a little on the PT, I can make it work better. I would not have guessed that.”

“It is counterintuitive. But I’m glad it’s working.”

“Thank you again for all of this,” Chris said sincerely. “I do not doubt that without you, Len and I would have gone downtown or found someone to marry us without anyone else being there. Except for Eleanora. Who told Len he was not allowed to get married without her.”

“Speaking of –”

“You recognized it, too?” Chris had felt it happen. And was surprised that Len hadn’t seemed to realize it.

Amelia nodded. “Do you think she knows? Or Kate?”

“Kate, maybe not. But Eleanora knows. She felt that bond grow for a long time before David McCoy ever did anything about it.”

“I understand there was a big age gap, and she was young when he met her. I can’t blame him for waiting,” Amelia said. “She mentioned he’s been gone for fifteen years. And that her promise not to follow him was all that kept her here.”

“That and I think Kate was waiting,” Chris agreed.

“What was Kate waiting for,” Len asked as he put a plate of finger food in front of Chris. But he snagged a canapé off it and popped it into his mouth.

Amelia and Chris looked at each other. “Your mom.”

Len choked. “That’s what that look was, wasn’t it.”

“Probably,” Chris said. “How do you feel about that?”

“I would be happy that she found someone. She’s been alone a long time. Both Beth and I would be thrilled. And Kate is your cousin, so that makes it even better,” Len said, then looked at Chris. “Though would it make us related, somehow?”

Amelia laughed. “I doubt it.”

*****

Dinner was served and had been quite good, especially for hotel food. Len was sitting back, enjoying having his hand on Chris’ thigh. He leaned over and kissed him again. And in a minute or two, he planned to enjoy their first dance.

“I think it’s time for our dance,” Chris said, standing without any aid and holding out his hand. Len stood and took it, moving towards the empty dance floor.

“Are you up for this,” Len asked as he took Chris into his arms, and they started to move to the music.

“This is our wedding. I am damned well going to dance with you at it,” Chris said, leaning in for a quick kiss.

“It’s not going to be worth it if you are in so much pain that you don’t enjoy the dance,” Len said, kissing him again, more deeply.

Chris pressed against him. “Does it feel like I’m not enjoying it,” he murmured against Len’s mouth.

“I guess you are, my darlin’. Sadly, we have more time before we can do something about that.” Len cuddled him a little closer and slowed the dancing down to a shuffle. He just wanted to hold Chris for a while.

After a while, Len opened his eyes and looked across the dance floor. Most of the rest of the wedding party had joined them. Spock stood to one side with his hand behind his back. But Amelia and Grant, Jim and Captain Chin-Riley, Phil and Adriana Boyce, and Admiral April and his wife were all dancing.

His momma and Kate were dancing together, too. They made a handsome couple, his momma in her long dress and Kate in her dress uniform. He hoped that this was what it looked like. That his momma found someone to keep her company.

“Do you see them,” Chris asked.

“Yes. They look good together,” Len said.

“They do. And you’re good with it?”

“Yes. I am.” Len moved them toward the edge of the floor. “Let’s go sit with Beth. I want to see what she thinks. I hope she’s okay with it.”

“You think she might not be?” Chris asked, sounding surprised by that.

“She was Daddy’s girl growing up. And we lost Daddy so young that this might be hard for her.”

They stopped dancing at the edge of the floor and made their way back to the wedding party table.

He sat beside his sister, putting a hand on her arm. “Beth?”

“I’m okay with it, Lenny. Truly. It’s kind of a surprise after all this time. But you can look at her and see it happening. Almost against her will.”

“Oh, I think she wants it, or she could have walked away,” Len said. He looked back at the dance floor, and his momma and Kate were still dancing, seemingly lost in their own world.

Beth nodded. “I want her to be happy.”

“Do you know Kate,” Billy-Ray asked, looking towards Chris.

Chris shrugged. “Not really. She’s my first cousin, who I met again after thirty years last week. I told you she’d been doing yoga with me this past week.”

Billy-Ray laughed. “Didn’t you tell me she’s about ready to retire?”

“Yes. Kate hasn’t been back in San Francisco that long. She was Chief Engineer on the USS Explorer,” Chris said. “She’s a brilliant engineer and has had a distinguished career. She could have had her own ship if she’d wanted it, but command isn’t for everyone.”

“I went to one of those classes at 6:00 am. I still haven’t recovered from it,” Len added with a mock shiver. Between the early hour and the exercise, Len hated the whole experience. It was a testament to his love for Chris that he’d gone at all.

Chris put a hand on his arm. “Looks like they are getting ready to bring out the cake. After that, we’re done.”

“Finally,” Len said. “I love you, my husband, but even with this being our families and friends, I was done after our first dance.”

Chris leaned in and kissed him. “Just a little while longer, then we can go upstairs.”

*****

When they finally made it into the elevator, and the door closed, they kissed a few times before they got to the top. And there was only one door on the floor.

“You know,” Chris said, putting his palm on the door. It snicked and opened. “I was beginning to think we’d never get that cake eaten.”

“You were the one who said it would only be a little longer,” Len pointed out. “That was a long time ago.”

“Not so much. It was only thirty minutes. What took so long was saying goodbye to everyone. It’s not like we won’t see most of them in a week or two.”

Chris left his cane by the door. And they both stopped on the threshold of the room.

“Wow. This is very white,” Len said.

“Very. Wedding suite. Apparently, white is a thing for weddings,” Chris said. And then he walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows. “Nice view.” The lights of San Francisco and the dark of the bay lay spread out before them.

“Yes, it is,” Len said. “A very nice view.”

Chris turned and smiled at him. “Want to come over here and kiss me?”

“I can do that. But we should be wearing less clothes for it.”

“I am good with fewer clothes,” Chris said, taking off his jacket and looking around. He walked into the open door of the bedroom, which was also very white. And found a hanger to put his jacket on. He turned around and found Len right behind him, minus not only the jacket but also most of his uniform.

Chris definitely approved. He slid his hand onto Len’s shoulders and ran them down his back, pulling him close. Len kissed him quickly and stepped back.

“I thought you were ready for less clothes, and all I see gone is your jacket.” Len reached out and pulled Chris’ shirt and undershirt over his head. He tossed the shirts over a chair and ran his hand down Chris’ chest.

Chris sucked in a breath and leaned into the caress. A pleasant shiver ran through him.

“Less clothes,” Len said again and moved back slightly, stepping out of his own pants and underwear. Chris did the same.

Len nudged Chris to get onto the bed, and then he lay down next to him, gathering Chris into his arms and kissing him deeply. Then he pulled back. “Do you want to have me tonight?” Len asked.

“I was wondering when or if you’d want to try it,” Chris said. He wasn’t ever going to push Len one way or another.

“I’ve been worried about pushing you too hard before now,” Len said, his hands caressing along Chris’ side.

Len’s care with him had defined their relationship. That would be the reason why Len would hesitate to ask for something he wanted.

Chris kissed him again and slid his hand along Len’s back and over his ass. “What is your pleasure?” he asked.

“Anything I’ve done to you would be good right now,” Len said, smiling against his mouth.

Chris kissed him tenderly, his hands in his hair and holding his neck. Len’s hands moved over his back.

He made his way down Len’s chest and belly, licking and sucking on any piece of skin that caught his eye. Len’s breath caught each time he settled his mouth on somewhere sensitive. Each sound raised Chris’ excitement up a notch. He loved the taste and feel of Len under his mouth and hands, and he took his time so that they would enjoy the buildup.

At his urging, Len turned over and spread out his long legs. Chris had to take a breath before he could do anything else. He started licking down Len’s back, moving down slowly, enjoying the taste of him.

“Fuck. So good,” Len said, enthusiastically pushing back. “Fuck.”

After a while longer, Chris slicked his fingers.

“Damn. Please. Yes.” Len panted as Chris slid a finger in.

Chris wasn’t going to rush any of this. He wanted Len to feel all the delicious sensations until he was breathless with it.

“About damned time,” Len breathed out when Chris started to slowly press in.

The tight heat and the slick movements were intoxicating. While Chris hoped to draw this out as long as possible, Len pushed back against him, urging him on and it was going to be too much to contain very soon.

“Oh, dear lord,” Len whined when Chris started to move faster. “Again. Keep going. Put your damned back into it.”

Chris laughed and did as he was asked. At this point, neither one of them would last much longer.

“Please,” Len whined again as Chris wrapped his hand around him, stroking firmly. And Len came grunting out, “Fuuuccckk.”

“Yes, that’s it,’ Chris panted and moved against him a few more times before the heat and pleasure overwhelmed him.

For a few moments, Chris tried to catch his breath. That was amazing beyond words. He moved to lay down next to Len, who was also panting.

“Good?” Chris asked.

“Oh, my darlin’, you know that was beyond good. Don’t even tell me you didn’t know that.”

“Well, it did seem like you were enjoying what I was doing,” Chris said.

Len cuddled him closer and kissed him. “Very good. This was the last thing I hadn’t done.”

Chris nodded. “Nothing else?”

“I’ll let you know if I want to try something else,” Len murmured. “Is there something else you want to try? You’ve always seemed more adventurous than I am.”

Chris shook his head. “If there was something I wanted to try, I would have asked about it already.”

“We probably should have talked about this weeks ago,” Len said. “I’m good with what we’ve been doing. As I said, I was more worried about you pushing too hard than actually doing it. This would have been a stretch for you when we met. And probably even when you wanted to try it yourself.”

As much as Chris hated to admit it, Len was probably right. He leaned in and kissed Len slowly. “Maybe.”

Len laughed. “You forget, I know you. Even if I don’t know all the details yet, I still know you.” Len rolled over onto his back and grunted.

“Okay?” Chris asked.

“Yes. Of course. Just a little stiff,” Len said, gathering Chris close and kissing him again. Chris adjusted in his arms, pressed a kiss to his neck, and let sleep take him.

*****

Chapter Eleven – The Unburied Past

Two weeks later, the door to Chris’ outer office slid open for Len, and he stopped just inside the door. Two people were standing over Derek with seemingly aggressive intent. And instead of cringing, as Len would have expected from him, he held his ground and glared back at the two people. The man looked like a much older and angrier version of Chris. And the woman, probably Willa Pike, had a vague resemblance to Jon. But again, so much older.

Those two should not be in Chris’ office. He started to take a step back, regretting that he wasn’t carrying a phaser and that he’d let the escort go at the door to Chris’ building.

“I told you, sir, Admiral Pike-McCoy is unavailable right now. If you leave your name and a comm number, I’ll make sure he gets it,” Derek said, his voice steady and sure.

“I don’t want to leave a message for my son. I want to talk to him now,” Charles Pike said. Anger seethed in his words. “Why do you keep referring to him as Pike-McCoy? That is not his name.”

Derek stood up. “I have been reliably informed that it is his name, sir.”

“Who the fuck told you that?” Pike snarled.

“Admiral Pike-McCoy told me himself.” There was some strength in Derek that Len would not have guessed was there. He wasn’t at all flustered by Pike. In fact, to Len’s surprise, he seemed entirely in control of this situation, which seemed out of character. But not unwelcome.

“I cannot believe that,” Pike said. “I want you to get him out here.”

“What is going on here,” Len asked with some force in his voice. Willa was just standing there, mostly staring straight ahead. Not really doing or saying anything. She didn’t seem to notice him.

“Doctor Pike-McCoy, these people,” Derek said, waving a hand at them. “Want to see the Admiral, but they are not on his family list and don’t have an appointment. It wouldn’t matter anyway since he’s not in.”

Len was smart enough not to ask where Chris was. Not in front of hostiles like his parents. Though, how had they gotten into the building at all. There was armed security at the entrance.

There was only one possible reason they could have for coming here. They were going to try to hurt Chris. They had to know they were likely to be arrested for trespassing.

“Call security, Derek,” Len said. And turned to Charles Pike. “If the Admiral is not here, then I suggest you leave him a comm, or maybe you should both just leave.” And they would be detained on their way out.

“Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?” Pike growled, his hands tightening into fists. He probably thought he looked threatening, but Len had dealt with the real thing, and this wasn’t it.

Len fought the urge to laugh at him. “I am Doctor Leonard Pike-McCoy. I’m the Admiral’s husband.”

“You are not his husband. He wouldn’t marry a man. That’s disgusting. I taught him better than that.”

Len blinked at the outrageousness of that statement. He glanced at Derek, who also had a look of surprise on his face, but it was gone in a second. No one in this day and age would even think something like that, much less say it out loud like it was something to be proud of.

“He would and did marry me,” Len held up his hand with his rings on it, betting Pike would recognize the engagement ring.

And belatedly, Len realized that might not have been the smartest thing he’d ever done because if Pike had looked angry before, he now looked outraged. “Where did you get that ring?”

“Are you really that stupid, man? Where the fuck do you think I got it? I just said I married the Admiral two weeks ago,” Len snapped, losing patience with this idiot.

Pike reached for his hand. “Over my dead body, you did. Those rings should have been mine.”

As his hand connected with Len’s, a series of harsh emotions flashed through his mind. All of them were awful and dark. The only thing Len could determine was that Pike meant harm to Chris in some way. The shock of it was stunning. His vision was starting to gray out. “Hold him,” he called to Derek. “Both of them. And get security to find the Admiral. Now.”

He heard the whine of a phaser as he lost the battle to stay conscious.

*****

Chris was running a little later than he would have liked. Whenever he walked without his cane, he had to move slower. Just in case he needed it, he was carrying it. But so far, he had been doing pretty well.

Lily and Lucas were meeting him at a diner a couple of blocks off Starfleet grounds. They had just returned to Earth from their semester off-planet and called him earlier this morning to meet for lunch. He’d missed them.

As he got to the end of the path that led out to the main cross street, he noticed three large men converging on him, one on either side and one stopped in front of him. Some sense told him to be wary, and he never ignored that feeling. And as much as it galled him to admit, he knew he wouldn’t be able to deal with three of them by himself. He tapped the comm on his jacket.

“This is Pike. Security Alert. Send someone out –” Before he could finish the sentence, the first guy tried to grab him, and he turned away, but the guy got his comm badge. Which he dropped and stepped on, crushing it.

Well fuck, Chris thought as he managed to sidestep him. He took off at a run, moving off the path into the street as fast as he could. Which wasn’t fast enough. But it was clearly not what they expected him to do since they all hesitated for just a second.

Unfortunately, they caught up with him before he could get very far. He had his phaser out, but they had phasers, too. Chris hit one of the guys in the leg, and he went down with a high-pitched scream. The second guy knocked into Chris, and he dropped the damned phaser, and he wasn’t going to stop to retrieve it. The second guy grabbed him.

Luckily, Chris’ cane had a surprise in it. It twisted, and he had a long, thin blade at the end of the handle. It wasn’t regulation, and probably illegal as hell, but he didn’t care right now.

He stabbed the second guy in the leg, and he screeched and let go of Chris. The third guy saw him coming and dodged him. And he punched out at Chris, which he could somewhat deflect by turning, but it wasn’t enough. He hit Chris in the face and then the chest. Chris managed to slap him with the blade, which cut through the arm of his clothes. It gave Chris a chance to step away again and try to run again, but by this point, he didn’t have much energy or breath left. He moved as quickly as he could. Again, not enough to avoid them.

Fortunately, the commotion between them finally started to get some attention from people passing by.

And Lily and Lucas appeared and joined the fight to help him. He was breathing hard, and everything hurt. Somehow, he managed to stay on his feet while Lily and Lucas dealt with the last of the men. Lucas took his cane, put it back together, and then handed it back to him.

“Chris, are you okay,” Lily said, putting a hand on his arm.

He nodded and bent over, trying to breathe. “Thank you both,” he gasped out. “Appreciate the assist.”

As he forced himself upright, he saw the police and Starfleet security come off the path he’d been on. They’d probably beamed in at the point they lost his signal. “Calvary arrives,” he said, and his vision was starting to gray out. He noticed that Derek was with the security team, which he supposed made sense.

Lily and Lucas each had a hand on either of his arms, effectively holding him up. “Come on, Chris, we’ve got you,” Lily said.

He appreciated that. “Thanks. I’m going to pass out now,” he said. And did.

*****

Chris woke up lying in a hospital bed, but even before he opened his eyes, he sensed that Len was close. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Len was asleep in the other bed in the room. “What is going on,” he asked sharply, but it only came out as a whisper.

And everything, right down to his hair follicles, hurt, but given what happened, it could have been so much worse. And the pain was slightly distant. He’d probably been given something.

“You’re safe,” Lily said, putting a hand on his arm. “Chris, how do you feel?”

“I’m sure he knows he’s safe, Lils,” Lucas said, also stepping up to the bed. They both looked worried about him.

He wanted to reassure them. “I feel okay,” Chris said, lying. “What happened?”

“Lot of stuff, but we’re not supposed to talk to you about it yet,” Lily said, smiling at him.

But Chris did not appreciate that answer. “Why is Len here? Is he okay?”

“Yes, Admiral, I’m fine,” Len said, sitting up and wincing. He put a hand to his head and pressed his temple.

“You don’t look fine, beloved,” Chris said and decided he’d definitely been given something to have called Len that in public. However, the fuzzy-headedness of the heavy pain meds wasn’t readily apparent.

“I am. I have a headache from my run-in with your father,” Len said.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to tell him that,” Lucas said, turning to glare at him.

Len looked at Lucas and frowned. “Who the hell are you? And why are you even here?” he snapped.

The question surprised Chris because he’d told Len about the twins. Of course, he might not have mentioned what they looked like.

“I’m Lucas Pike. This is my sister, Lily,” Lucas said, smiling widely at Len. “We are very happy to meet you.”

Len sort of blinked at them, his mouth dropping open a little. “You’re the twins?”

“We are,” Lily said with a big smile for Len. Then she turned to look at Chris and pouted. “Later, we’re going to talk about how you didn’t wait to get married until we could be there. And how we might forgive you someday.”

Fuck. Chris was pretty sure Lily wouldn’t take that he had been distracted as a valid reason. And, of course, she would be right. He should have thought of it, and so should of Amelia.

When Chris opened his mouth to apologize, Lily shook her head. “Not now. Now, we just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“You both still saved me,” Chris said, smiling at her and her brother.

“From what, exactly?” Len asked, and there was an edge Chris recognized in his voice.

“From the bad guys who were trying to kidnap him. Well, that was what we think they were trying to do,” Lily said. “We were waiting outside the diner and saw Chris trying to fight off the bad guys. We went to help.”

“What?” Len disengaged the safety rail shield on the bed and moved to stand.

“You aren’t supposed to do that, either,” Lucas said. And then he rang the call button for the nurse.

Who arrived with Amelia in her police uniform and Derek in his Starfleet security uniform. With commander’s stripes on his sleeve. It was about time he looked like who he was.

The nurse gave Len something for his head and checked Chris, then said the doctor would be by later. She admonished Derek and Amelia not to upset her patients, and she left again. Apparently, it was a busy afternoon.

Chris watched as Len took in the stripes and pointed at Derek. “I knew you were far too calm and in control of that situation. Did you know, Admiral?”

“Yes, doctor,” Chris said, two could play the rank game. “I have meant to say something to you about the commander for some time now. I’ve known about him almost since he started.”

Derek looked surprised. “You didn’t tell him, sir?” He started to say something else and then closed his mouth, which Chris appreciated because he felt bad about it.

“That would be my question, too, Admiral,” Len said, folding his arms over his chest, glaring at him. “It looks like I’m the only one who didn’t know.”

God, he looked so annoyed with Chris. And not without a good reason, either.

“Well, I meant to tell you and started to several times,” Chris tried to explain. “But you have a way of distracting me. I meant to tell you again last month when I told you about my father. I said I was going to start reporting my whereabouts to security.”

“I had no idea that you were talking about –” Len waved a hand at Derek.

Chris sighed. “And then, if you remember, we had that discussion about your security –”

“I’m not likely to forget that part,” Len said and then smiled at him. “And we got distracted after that.”

“And we just never got back to it,” Chris said. That distraction had been epic.

Len looked at him. “He’d need a whole team watching you. For a year?”

“You are correct, Doctor Pike-McCoy. The Admiral didn’t always make it easy on us, either,” Derek complained.

He was not going to address that at all. “Where were you today?” Chris asked.

“I alerted the outside agent that you were coming out, but he never confirmed. Before I could go out to check on it, I think your father came in to distract me. Then, Doctor Pike-McCoy came in a minute or two later, and something happened between them. I was hoping he’d tell me what.”

“How did he get in as far as my office?” Chris asked. “He shouldn’t have gotten past security downstairs.” While most Starfleet personnel can use their hand prints to go in and out of the buildings, all civilians, including contractors, must go through the downstairs security.

“He had an employee key card and access code to bypass security,” Derek said. “There are very few of those available. We’re still looking into how he got it and from whom. And I still don’t know what happened to the outside agent. I’ve got one of my people looking into it.”

“Let me know what you find out about your agent,” Chris said to Derek, who nodded. “Len, what happened with you and Charles Pike?”

“Admiral, this is Starfleet’s jurisdiction,” Derek said, nodding his head towards Amelia.

“I’m actually here to talk to you, as well,” Amelia said. “You were off Starfleet grounds when you were attacked, which puts you in my jurisdiction.”

Derek opened his mouth to say something else, and Amelia shook her head. “My jurisdiction,” she said again.

“We can share information,” Derek offered. “The Admiral belongs to us. And he’s in a ‘Fleet hospital.”

“Does anyone have the whole narrative for this?” Chris asked before the two of them could fight over him like he was a bone.

Len nodded and told him about the encounter with Chris’ parents in his office. “Then, I held up my hand to show him my rings. He didn’t take that well at all,” Len finished.

“I’ll bet,” both he and Amelia said at the same time and smiled at each other.

“He reached for my hand, and when he connected, it felt like bursts of his emotions flashed through me, anger, jealousy, outrage, and darkness, mostly directed at you. I’ve never felt anyone so hateful or ugly. He doesn’t even like his wife. Who sort of just stood there. I think she must have been drugged,” Len finished with a shudder. “He is powerfully empathic.”

Chris made a mental note to ask Len about what was going on with him. That was the second time he’d connected with someone like that.

Len went on, “I told Derek to hold them, and then I passed out and woke up here with a terrible headache. Whatever the nurse just gave me has helped a lot with that.”

“I stunned them,” Derek said. “And called emergency for Doctor Pike-McCoy and security for your parents. They are in custody, and so are the three beings who tried to kidnap you. One of them had been shot with a phaser set to stun, and one was stabbed with a thin, sharp blade.” Derek looked right at him and shook his head ever so slightly.

Chris wasn’t going to say anything about that, at least not yet. And he glanced around. His cane was nowhere to be found.

Derek continued, “They had a ship docked, and we think they were trying to get you onto it. Unfortunately, you have known empathic abilities.”

“Fantastic,” Chris said. “How would Charles know anything about me or where I am? I mean, anything he would know would be public knowledge.”

“We think he watched your comings and goings. We also think he told the people he was working with about your empathy before it was documented. It’s also common knowledge that you walk to that diner a lot. We think that he told them that.”

“I’m an officer in Starfleet. Did he actually think that he would get away with kidnapping me?” Chris was sure Starfleet would have mobilized all their forces to get him back. And was equally sure that it probably wouldn’t have done much good. And Len would have suffered from his loss. How the fuck dare he?

Derek shrugged. “I don’t think he thought it through very carefully. The entire plot seemed poorly planned and seemed to hinge on your being alone and helpless.”

He supposed that it would not have been that hard to take him in those circumstances. “What about my mother?”

“We don’t know yet. Your mother was drugged into a state that was nearly catatonic. They are trying to detox her now,” Derek said.

“Are you okay, Len?” Chris asked.

Len got up and tottered over to his bed, lowered the safety shield, and sat down. He leaned over and kissed Chris. A couple of times. Then, a couple more. “Yes. As I said, it’s just a headache. And that’s fading now. What happened to you?”

“Three guys tried to grab me. The first thing they did was grab my communicator and smash it,” Chris said and looked at Derek. “Which is why I assume it took so long to find me?”

Derek nodded. “Sorry, sir, we didn’t get a location. I knew approximately where you’d be. But it took a few minutes longer than it should have to find you.”

“I managed to hold them off and stay out of reach until I hit the main street near the diner. Lily and Lucas were waiting outside for me.”

“We saw the one guy trying to get someone and went over to help. Turned out it was you,” Lily said.

“And you both have kept up with your martial arts training on Vulcan because you took the last guy down in seconds,” Chris said, smiling at them. “You two are my favorite cousins ever.”

They both bowed in unison. “We’re going to brag to all the other cousins that you said that,” Lily said. She turned to her brother, and they high-fived each other.

“We win,” Lucas said.

Chris and Len laughed at their antics. “So, what’s the prognosis on us?” Chris asked. “I can feel the pain drugs. But not the really powerful ones.”

“Do you need something more?” Len asked, putting a hand on Chris’ arm.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “But it does still hurt. Can I go home?”

“We should get a doctor in here,” Amelia said.

“I am a doctor,” Len pointed out.

Amelia snorted. “You’re not his doctor.”

“Oh, he most certainly is my doctor,” Chris assured her. Len laughed and kissed him again.

Amelia huffed out a laugh, too. “Come on, Lily, Lucas, we’ll see Chris and Len tomorrow. I’ll stop at the nurse’s station on my way out.”

“Thanks, Amelia,” Chris said. And looked at the twins. “I still owe you both lunch. Or dinner. I could cook something, though probably not for a few days.”

“I think we’ll bring something for dinner tomorrow.” Amelia herded them out.

*****

After they all left, Derek sat down in the chair next to Chris’ bed. Chris had adjusted the bed so that he could sit up, and Len was sitting on the side of his bed next to Chris.

“Commander, you look like you have aged quite a bit since this morning,” Chris said with a laugh.

Derek snorted. “You do know that I’m thirty-six.”

“In theory, but you have been presenting much younger,” Chris said. “But it’s good to see you in uniform again. Or actually, for the first time, isn’t it.”

“Yes, sir. I had a role to play. Still have it,” Derek said.

Chris frowned at that. He and Derek needed to have a talk about that. But it could wait until another day.

“And you played it very well. I had no idea you were anything other than an adequate admin. How did you end up in that position?” Len asked. “Why weren’t you just on his staff as security?”

Chris explained the situation, which, admittedly, he should have done quite a while ago.

Len let out what sounded like an annoyed sigh. “I should have known about this situation a lot sooner than this.”

“I know. I’m sorry. You know now,” Chris said and then looked at Derek. “Where is my cane?”

“It’s evidence,” Derek said. “I’m sure medical can find you one to replace it for the moment.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal,” Chris said carefully. “I’ll probably be fined for having it.”

“Only if you didn’t have a permit for a concealed weapon,” Derek said. “Which you do have.”

“No, I don’t,” Chris said.

Derek looked at him. “Yes, you do. I applied for one for you the first time I saw that cane. I knew exactly what it was.”

Len laughed. “Is that legal? Really?”

“Yes. It’s perfectly legal,” Derek said. “Being a Starfleet admin means being able to sign almost anything for you, Admiral. I’m surprised you don’t know that. I’ve signed all kinds of applications for you.”

“I’m not sure I approve of that.” Chris sighed. His mind wasn’t focusing the way he’d like, and he yawned.

Derek stood then. “I’ll see you in the morning, sir, Doctor.”

“Thank you,” Chris said. Derek nodded as he went through the door.

“What is going on with your empathy?” Chris asked. He was exhausted but couldn’t let this go quite yet.

Len looked at him and took his hand, shivering a little. “I don’t know, exactly. It was always stronger than I wanted to admit. But the time with Amelia was the first time I’d ever felt it like that. Usually, it’s just knowing what a patient is feeling, not actually feeling it. With your father,” Len said, shivering again. “That was God awful. He’s a very disturbed man. Deeply envious.”

“It’s becoming apparent he blocked his empathy somehow. I find that appalling,” Chris said, putting a hand on Len’s. “What are we going to do about it?”

“I’m not sure there is anything we can do about it, truthfully. So little is known about empathy and how It works,” Len said. “The information your brother put together was a good start. He’s a good researcher. But I’m almost done with a project plan for a large-scale study through Starfleet. I’m going to send it to Admiral April, probably by the beginning of next week.”

“You know there are other places that have empathic bonds. Xahea does. Po, the queen, told me about it when I was there,” Chris said. “She also said that the people of Xahea believe that it was a gift from the planet herself.”

“It would definitely be worth looking into, as well. Especially if they are further advanced than we are with it,” Len said. “I will use your name when I reach out to the queen.”

“I’ll give you her direct comm info, and you can definitely tell her I sent you. But that’s a task for another day,” Chris said. “Lie down with me. I’ll call Phil and see if they’ll let me out of here.”

“It probably wouldn’t hurt you to stay overnight.” Len stood and fiddled with the bed, and it widened. He slid into it next to Chris. The safety rail shields went back up.

“It means you’d have to stay as well,” Chris said. There was no way he was going to sleep without Len tonight.

“I know. It’s not like I’d mind as long as I can hold you, even if it is a tight fit in this bed,” Len said, leaning in to kiss him again. He shifted so that he was lying on his side facing Chris. “Are you okay?”

“As well as I can be given everything.” Chris put a hand on his cheek and kissed him. And then again.

He slid his hands onto Len’s back, pulling him closer. Len turned onto his back, taking Chris with him, and he put his head on Len’s chest. Len’s hand ran up and down his back soothingly, and he drifted off to sleep.

*****

“So, what’s the verdict on me,” Chris asked as Phil ran a scanner over him. He was sitting up on the biobed. Len had already left to go home and would return with some clean clothes for Chris.

“Len has been very good for you,” Phil said.

That was not what he’d asked or what he’d expected to hear. “How so?”

“You’ve put on seven pounds, and your muscle mass has increased. Two and a half months ago, you would have been in the hospital for a week after something like this. If you’d managed to get away at all.”

He’d known that Len had made a difference in his life. “How am I doing physically?” Chris asked.

“You’ve strained a couple of muscles in your leg and back. You’ll need to go easy for the next week, at least.” But Phil smiled at him. “I don’t think you did any lasting damage.”

“So, I can go home today?” Chris asked.

“Yes,” Phil said. “But I want you to go home, not to your office.”

“I actually have a lot to do today,” Chris said. He didn’t want to get any more behind than he already was.

Phil folded his arms across his chest. “Have Derek send you anything you need. That’s what your admin is for.”

“Fine. Did someone tell you about him?” Chris asked.

Phil just shrugged. “I knew about him.”

Chris glared at him. “How did you find out? I realized something was up with him about two weeks after he started.” Chris was still disappointed that it took him that long to figure it out.

“That doesn’t surprise me. I didn’t know until the commander ran a complete background check on Len right after you met him,” Phil said.

“How were you alerted to that?” Chris asked.

“He works for me. So, I got the notice, and someone from security interviewed me. I’ll bet they also talked to Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock as well as some of his other colleagues on the ship.”

Chris was sure they had. “But Len already worked for Starfleet. Why would they do that? It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does if someone was worried about you,” Phil said.

So, Bob probably had Derek do it and probably told Derek not to tell him about it. “Do you know any of the details about what happened yesterday?” Chris asked.

“I know they are trying to detox your mother. She’s been drugged for a long time,” Phil said. “It’s going to take a while to get her stable.”

“How did everyone miss that,” Chris asked. “She couldn’t get away from him?”

“I don’t know any of the details. We’re going to have to wait for your mother to tell us what happened,” Phil said. “And you should let your brother know what’s going on.”

He should do that. “I’ll comm him today.”

Phil nodded. “When Len gets here with your clothes, you can go home. And I do mean home.”

“Fine,” Chris grumbled. “After PT.”

*****

Chapter Twelve – In the Aftermath

Between his PT, which Chris refused to skip, and the walk home, he was in a moderate amount of pain by the time he sat down to start to do some work. First, he sent a quick message to his brother, updating him on the situation.

He brought up one of the files that needed review and started to read it. After rereading the same two paragraphs for the third time, Chris closed the file and got up to make some coffee. He took it back to his desk and had just sat down when the front door pinged open and closed.

“Len?” Chris called. “Why are you home?”

Len came over to where Chris was sitting. “Hello to you, too,” Len said, but he leaned in and kissed him.

“Why are you home,” Chris asked again when Len pulled back.

“I’ve been restless, not getting anything done. I finally gave up. You’re restless, too?” Len asked. But it was clear he knew Chris was.

“Do you think we strained the bond in some way?” Chris asked.

“It doesn’t feel like it did right before our wedding. I could tell we’d strained it then,” Len said.

Len gently pulled him to his feet and took him into his arms, just holding him. Chris sighed and pressed his face into the side of Len’s neck. It did feel better. He lifted his head and put his hand on Len’s face, pressing a kiss to his mouth.

“I need you,” Len said. And then pulled back to look at him. “How do you feel? Are you even feeling up to it?”

“I’m in some pain, but without taking anything. I don’t think that is going to matter. I need you, too. Let’s go up and see what we can do about that.” Chris leaned in and kissed him again.

“Maybe a hot shower first?” Len said. “There are some strained muscles, but you’ve also got some stiffness from the healing they did on you yesterday.”

“You can tell that without me saying anything,” Chris asked, surprised by the accurate assessment.

Len looked surprised, too. “Yes. I didn’t even notice. I have always been able to tell when you’re in pain. Now, I can…not quite feel it, but it’s more specific than before. I know where and how you are hurting.”

Chris concentrated on him. “I can feel your surprise. And that you want to help, but I’ve always known that.”

“I think the bond between us is getting deeper. Or maybe more aware. Or this could be part of it settling. I don’t know,” Len said. “I am working on specific survey questions, and I think this might be one of them. You and I can’t be the only ones who experience this.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Chris said. “I think we should let it go for a bit. Maybe spend a little time together?”

“I agree. There’s nothing we can do now, and you need to work out some of the stiffness in your back and legs. And maybe we can appease the bond with that,” Len said, putting a hand on his back and rubbing a little.

“Maybe just putting our hands on each other will be good enough,” Chris suggested.

Despite the pain and stiffness, Chris didn’t feel like he was moving that badly. Yes, it was sore, but the muscles themselves seemed strong enough to deal with it. He didn’t feel as frail or unsteady as he had in the past when he was in pain.

He stripped off his own clothes, and Len did the same. They both stepped into the hot shower and sighed. They lingered only long enough to let tense muscles relax a little. Then, dried off and got into bed.

Len held up a bottle of massage oil. “I’m thinking you need the real thing rather than the fun one.”

Chris nodded. “Probably.”

Len’s strong hands worked over his back and down his legs. Finally, he felt completely relaxed. Len’s hands were nice and oily, and reached for him. Chris moaned, giving into the pleasure, and after a minute or two, he came. For a while, Chris lay there panting and then opened his eyes. Len seemed very satisfied with himself.

“What can I do for you, beloved,” Chris asked, sitting up to kiss him.

He pushed Len back on the bed, kissing him again and starting to move his hands down Len’s body. “Lie back and enjoy it,” Chris said.

Len chuckled, settling into the bedding. “Yes, my darlin’.”

“So obedient,” Chris said, his mouth starting to follow the trail of his hands, “Wish it were true,”

“No, you don’t,” Len said.

“You’re right, I don’t. Well, except sometimes.”

Len just laughed and then gasped as Chris licked his chest. He moved down Len’s belly, nuzzling against his damp skin, and then finally took Len into his mouth. Len’s response was, as always, enthusiastic. He started to come almost immediately.

Afterward, they lay together, holding each other and exchanging lazy kisses.

“What time are Amelia and the twins going to be here,” Len asked, his fingers trailing down Chris’ back.

Chris glanced at the clock. “About an hour. We should get dressed.”

Len cuddled him tighter. “One more minute.”

*****

Amelia, Grant, and the twins arrived exactly on time. No surprise there. They came in with bags of Asian food.

After dinner, Amelia put her hand on Chris’ wrist. “You look like you’re in pain. How are you doing?”

“I’m not doing as badly as it could have been or probably should have been,” Chris said. “I’m sore, but I don’t feel injured by what happened. Speaking of that, what else have you heard?”

“Not a lot,” Grant answered. “I’m going to be overseeing the case. A couple of detectives will come to your office on Monday and take your statement.”

“Why you and not Amelia,” Len asked.

“I’m the chief of detectives. So, we don’t want to have a conflict of interest.”

“You’re still my uncle,” Chris pointed out.

“True. But this is my job,” Grant said. “It’s not like I can ignore it since you’re related to me. Plus, I’m assigning the actual work to the people who are supposed to do it. And if it’s my best detective pair, then no one has anything to say about that.”

“I’ll expect them on Monday. What about Len?”

“If you want to be there, Len, then that’s great. Otherwise, someone will come find you and talk to you in your office.”

Len shrugged. “I’ll see what Monday looks like when I get there.”

“Fair enough,” Grant said. “As for any other information. We don’t know a lot yet. We are working with Derek Vance and the Starfleet security team. They are not as forthcoming with information as we’d hoped.”

“I’ve been comming them. But they are very protective of you,” Amelia said. “I’m not surprised, given everything.”

He felt again that she knew more than she was saying. “What aren’t you telling me?”

She sighed. “Lily, Lucas, why don’t you go for a walk with Dad. You can take Len with you.”

“You don’t get to throw Len out of his own house,” Chris snapped.

“My house?” Len asked, clearly surprised.

“Community property,” Chris said. “Plus, I put your name on the title.”

“What? When?” Len’s eyes widened.

Chris hadn’t expected Len to be that surprised. He supposed he probably should have mentioned that before now, like many other things. Everyone was looking at him. “What? It’s my house, apparently, completely in my name.”

“What did you think?” Amelia asked. “My dad left it to you. You can sell it, though usually, the family would want to buy it back from you if you did. Or buy it back from whomever you sold it to.”

“Didn’t you tell me that you didn’t think you could sell it,” Len said.

“Well, I checked with one of the lawyers to see if I could add your name to the title. And I could. So, I did. I’d never sell this house. I love it.” He looked at Len. “You can live here the rest of your life. Even if I died before you. Though with our bond…” He shrugged.

“Yeah. That’s okay with me. I don’t think I could live here without you,” Len said and then glared at Chris. “When were you going to tell me?”

Chris looked down. “I did it after we got back from our trip to Montana. So, it’s only been a little more than a week. I kept meaning to say something but never got around to it. It’s been a little busy.”

With a sigh of impatience, Len stood. “It might be my house, too, but I’m okay with leaving you and Amelia to talk.”

“Well, we want to hear what mom has to say,” Lily said, and her brother nodded. “We’re all part of this, too. Especially since we helped rescue Chris.”

She gave them a stern look, and unsurprisingly, they laughed at her. “Yes, mom. We know. But we’re grown-ups now,” Lucas said. “We’ve just been on our own on a different planet.”

“When you get back, you can tell Chris all about your semester on Vulcan,” Amelia said.

“Fine,” Lily said. “I wouldn’t mind taking a look around this neighborhood. Some of the houses here look very cool.”

“They are,” Len said. “The first few weeks I lived here, I hardly noticed anything.”

Both Chris and Amelia laughed at that. “You had other things on your mind.”

“Like keeping you on your feet,” he said, leaning in to kiss Chris before he stepped away and then back for another kiss.

“They are so cute,” Lily said. Then smiled at Amelia’s look. “What? They are. It’s so sweet. I hope to find someone who loves me that much. But I’m not sure I’d want to wait that long for it.”

“Worth it,” Both Len and Chris said at the same time. Then, they smiled at each other, and Len leaned in to kiss him one more time.

*****

After everyone filed out, Chris turned to her. “Did you know there are privacy shield screens on all the separate rooms here? The sound would not have carried.”

“Actually, I didn’t know,” Amelia said. “You’ve obviously upgraded more than just the kitchen. But I wanted the twins out of the house.”

“I would ask why, but I think you should just tell me whatever you wanted to talk about,” Chris said.

“Your father,” she said, sitting back down at the table and waving him over. “I know you were briefed on Terra Prime? And your father’s involvement.”

Chris sucked in a breath. “It’s pretty clear he was involved and was trying to kill me.”

“I knew that he was involved with the Terra Prime group. We’ve kept tabs on him. Up until your accident, I had lunch with your mother every few months. That ended when I was so busy with your care. I just didn’t have time to keep up with her, too. And when I contacted her again earlier this year, she wasn’t interested in seeing me.”

“I had no idea you saw her by herself. Did you notice a change in her over time?” Chris said.

“I didn’t. And I would have. I saw her to keep track of what your father was doing,” Amelia said.

Chris frowned. “Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

“Because you didn’t want to hear about them when you were still in space. And what could you have done anyway,” Amelia said and sighed.

Something clicked, and dear God, he should have realized it sooner. “He wasn’t there to berate me for my life choices, was he?” Chris asked. “He was trying to do me harm.”

Amelia didn’t even try to deny it. “We don’t know for sure what he was doing there. When he was questioned by security, he stuck to his story of wanting to see you.”

“It had been at least ten years, maybe even fifteen, since I’d last seen him. Why would anyone think I’d want to see him?” Chris asked.

“Exactly. But he was your father, and he talked his way into the hospital with your mother. Security was tightened after that,” Amelia said. “Grant and I continued to keep track of him, and then when Grant got the case with Terra Prime and the new cell, we gave everything we had on him to Starfleet security. I wanted you to be safe.”

That was the missing piece in the whole saga with his father. “You might have mentioned some of this to me before now? Starfleet knew about the Terra Prime and the threat to me a year ago. We didn’t know Charles was involved.”

She looked only slightly guilty. “I probably should have said something. Derek Vance and I coordinated sometimes. But you knew about him as well.”

“Swender-Vance. Nearly from the beginning,” Chris confirmed. “I didn’t know he coordinated with you, though. And I should have. But he and I maintained the show of him being my admin.”

“Truthfully, I didn’t want anything to derail your recovery,” Amelia said.

“I already knew about the threat. But not your involvement,” Chris said. “Bob only told me you’d given him the initial information about Charles when I got the first briefing on that information. It was only a couple of months ago.”

“That’s correct. But I did know. And Bob April knew. And that was why Swender-Vance was put in as your admin.”

“You should have said something sooner, and Bob as well,” Chris said, annoyed. He should’ve damned well been told about the threat that Charles had become. Part of him wanted to protest their keeping this from him, even out of love. But he could also acknowledge that there wasn’t a damned thing he could have done about it then. So, he bit back his anger.

“How does this apply to what’s going on with Charles now?” Chris asked.

Amelia looked relieved at the change of subject. “We believe they want to kidnap someone prominent with known empathy and possibly experiment on them or hold them hostage to somehow force Earth’s removal from The United Federation of Planets.”

“Seriously? Still? I can’t imagine how they thought they were going to do that.” Chris said, disgusted. “That’s just ludicrous.”

“I didn’t say it made sense, but this is what the intel has been saying. I agree it’s ridiculous,” Amelia said with a sigh. “And, of course, Charles knew about your empathy. And about Jonathan as well.”

As much as Chris hated talking about the whole subject, Charles Pike had made a mess of his own life, his mother’s life, and Jon’s and Chris’ life as well. Chris wasn’t sure how any of this would shake out. But at this point, more information on the table was better.

“I’m not sure you know this, but Jon researched empathy and bonds for years. He wrote a couple of unpublished papers,” Chris told her.

“Much to my regret, I barely know Jonathan,” Amelia said. “I’d like to read what he’s written. As for Terra Prime, they thought you would be an easy target.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, I should have been. It was luck and being stronger than they were expecting that kept me alive yesterday. I’m sure that Starfleet would have found me, but probably not before I was dead.”

“I think they might have found you sooner than that,” Amelia said. “God knows, I would have marshaled all the family resources to find you. As well as any favor I could call in from anyone else.” She smiled. “There are plenty of beings and worlds that owe me a favor or three.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I know you would have,” he said. “So, what’s going to happen now with Charles?”

“He will confess to everything he did and all he knows about the organization. And then he’s going to get the help he needs,” Amelia said. “You and I both know that he has some severe mental health issues. He’s been radicalized enough not to know the difference between right and wrong anymore.”

“How will he get the help he needs?” Because Chris wasn’t tracking that.

“With a confession, we can send him to a private mental health facility rather than a penal colony that won’t help him. And maybe he’ll end up being a productive member of society again.” Amelia didn’t sound like she believed it any more than Chris did. All the therapy in the world probably wouldn’t fix what was wrong with Charles Pike. But at least he’d get the care he needed.

Chris relaxed slightly. “And my mother?”

“That’s more complicated. She has been drugged with a synthetic psychotomimetic class of drugs.”

“Which does what,” Chris asked. This was why Len should have been part of this discussion.

“From what I’ve been told, it puts her in a state where she will obey commands she is given. And she’s been given the drug for so long that she’s in a borderline psychotic state. She’s also suffering from dementia, which the doctors believe is also from the drugs. They are hopeful that once she’s off the drugs completely that she’ll start to recover.”

“And they can’t just stop it all at once, can they?” Chris guessed.

“No. They have to ease her off it over weeks. There’s more,” Amelia said. “She filed for divorce at least twice from your father. And then pulled the paperwork back. Saying they’d reconciled.”

“Fuck. When?”

“The first time was just days after you graduated from the Academy.”

Damn. That kindled a small hope that she wasn’t completely complicit in what Charles had done. “And the second?” Chris asked.

“Almost two years ago. Which would be consistent with the amount of the drug she has in her system.” Amelia sighed. “It goes without saying that we’ll see that she’ll have the best care available. She’s a victim, too. Whatever else she’s done in the past, she didn’t deserve this.”

“No. She didn’t,” Chris agreed.

“That doesn’t mean I think she’s changed,” Amelia said, a warning in her tone. “But she is entitled to believe what she wants as long as she doesn’t do anything illegal with it.”

“Which, as far as we know, she didn’t.” Chris’ feelings about his mother were all over the place. He knew that she’d been victimized by his father this time. But he needed to remember that she’d agreed with everything else his father had believed and done over the years.

“So, there we are,” Amelia said. “What else is bothering you?”

She really did know him well. “Why did you make everyone leave to talk about this? Especially Len, who might have had some insight into what is happening with my mother.”

“Because I didn’t want Lily and Lucas to hear about it. I don’t want either of them to know anything about Charles,” Amelia said. “I think it would hurt them to know their aunt and uncle held such vile beliefs.”

Chris agreed with that. “They were in the hospital room when we talked about it.”

“It wasn’t specific enough for them to know just how awful Charles’ beliefs are,” Amelia said.

He supposed she was right. And he wouldn’t want either of them hurt by it. Though he could see Lily in full righteous anger telling his father what she thought of his beliefs. But Lucas would be quietly hurt by it. Because it was someone in his family. “I hope you’ve never mentioned the twins to either Charles or Willa,” Chris said. “Does Jon know?”

“Never,” Amelia agreed with a shudder. “I told Jon when I saw him to help find an apartment here. He was very upfront about not having the same beliefs your parents have. And, in fact, he seemed disgusted by it. And he asked when he could meet them.”

“Jon is much more like Lucas than he is like any of the rest of us. I think they would all get along well,” Chris said. “You know, Lily and Lucas are going to find out.”

Amelia sighed. “I know. But I can hold off the real world a little bit longer.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to keep this from Len?” Chris asked because he wasn’t even going to try.

“Of course not,” she said. “You don’t think it’s possible for me to keep anything from Grant.”

“I can keep things from Len.” But he admitted it wasn’t as easy as when they first met. “The past, especially.”

“If you’re anything like me, you’ll find it increasingly difficult as time passes. You and Len have been together for less than four months,” She paused. “I think there are many things you’ll have trouble keeping from him.”

Over the years, there had been times when Amelia had intimated that she knew something about his past. And she’d never said what, and he’d never asked about it.

Chris cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “You’ve implied that you knew more about my career than you should. Classified information and all.”

“I know some of it, at least,” Amelia said, inclining her head slightly.

“How,” Chris said and then held up a hand. “Before you tell me that, you need to know if there’s a security breach, I will report it.”

“Of that, I have no doubt,” Amelia said with a soft laugh. “There’s nothing anyone can do at this point.” She took a breath and then said, “You had a cousin on The Discovery.”

Of all the possibilities for what she could have said, that one was not even on his list. “Who?” Chris choked. “It’s not someone I’ve met.”

“I don’t think so,” Amelia said. “Gillian Pike Richardson. She lost her husband in the Klingon War. She stayed with the ship when it left.”

“I don’t remember that name. And I didn’t meet her on board. Where did she work?” Chris had read through the ship’s manifest when he’d come on board but hadn’t spent much time studying it because he was just the temporary captain.

“Life sciences. She wrote to her mother, Jeanette, who is my first cousin, and me when you came on board as acting captain, asking about you. She was your second cousin.”

Chris took a deep breath. “How much did she tell you?”

“Everything, I think. Gillian sent several comms over the months you were acting captain of the ship. She sent one last comm, saying goodbye, just as they were going into the wormhole to go to the future.”

“What else?” Chris asked. It could have gone out after Philippa Georgiou killed the AI that inhabited Leland. It had taken at least five or six minutes for the Discovery to get to the wormhole to the future that Michael Burnham had created. And if her comms were on auto-send, it could have gone out.

“Nothing she told us was classified until after The Discovery left. A few weeks later, we were told the ship had been destroyed in a battle. But of course, we knew it hadn’t been. Jeanette and I agreed we wouldn’t tell anyone. But I don’t know if Gillian wrote to any of her other siblings or cousins.”

There was nothing Chris could do with this information because Starfleet didn’t know the ship and her crew had gone into the future. The official story, the one that Ash Tyler, Una, Spock, and he had told everyone, was that the ship was destroyed in the battle with the artificial intelligence Control. “I wonder how many other people onboard did the same thing?”

“Probably at least some of them had family or friends they wanted to say goodbye to.” She put a hand on Chris’ arm. “I can tell this has upset you. I’m sorry.”

“You’re letting me feel you have more questions? I’m not sure I can answer them. I am still bound by my Starfleet oaths. This isn’t something I’ve discussed with Len, either.”

“I’m not bound by your oaths,” she said and raised a hand. “Think about it before you say anything else.”

She meant Len. And he didn’t know what to say to that.

“Perhaps, if it comes up, you could direct him to me,” Amelia said. “I do have another question. This one is about you. In one of her comms, Gillian mentioned that they were in orbit around Boreth and that you had gone down to the planet.”

God, did he want to tell her that. “We needed a time crystal,” Chris said. And then told her the truth about it.

Amelia’s eyes widened, and she drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry. That could not have been easy to live with,” Amelia said. “But you did survive.”

“I went into that day believing I would die. My one goal was to rescue the cadets.” Chris took a deep breath. “I didn’t expect someone else to intervene on my behalf.”

“Who,” Amelia asked. “How?”

“Spock. He knew what was going to happen, and he made sure that Len got to Earth to do the surgery that mitigated the radiation and saved my life.”

“For which I and the rest of the family are very grateful.”

Before he could say anything else. The door clicked open and closed.

Len came in, followed by everyone else. “I hope you’re done because we are done walking.”

“Close enough,” Chris said. He could use a few minutes to process all of that.

“It’s a really nice neighborhood,” Lily said. “We’ve been coming here for years, and I never looked around. There are a lot of nice houses. None are as nice as this one, though. Len told us he lived here for weeks without knowing who you were.”

“True. But he was distracted by other things,” Chris said, leaning in to kiss Len.

“What?” Len asked, pulling back from the kiss. “You’re upset.”

“It’s fine. I’ll tell you later,” Chris said, leaning in for another kiss.

Len looked like he might want to argue, but then he sighed. “I’ll hold you to it.” He took Chris’ hand and held it.

*****

Chris was lying in bed, waiting for Len to come up.

“How are you feeling,” Len asked, sitting on the bed, and putting a hand on Chris’ thigh, rubbing a thumb along one of the scars. “You seemed upset before?”

“Not exactly upset. Amelia and I had a couple of disturbing conversations.” Chris sighed. “Add to that, you and I haven’t discussed that I didn’t tell you about Derek and the whole subterfuge with him.”

“Or the house being put in my name,” Len added.

Chris sighed. “That too. I’m so sorry about both of those things.”

“Yeah,” Len said and then sighed. “I have to admit I was pretty surprised that you knew about Derek, and I didn’t. But I remember how that conversation ended and what our lives have been like the last few weeks. As for the house, yeah, another surprise.”

“I don’t know what to say about either of them. I meant to tell you.” Chris looked down, feeling bad about all of it, but he wasn’t sure how to fix it.

“And yet, you didn’t. Again,” Len pointed out. “The problem with the house was that you didn’t even ask me if I wanted it put in my name. You just did it.”

Len had a point there. He hadn’t asked, hadn’t even considered the question. And in this case, he should have thought it through. “I guess I’m taking being in charge to a new level. Do you want the house in your name? Community property laws say you own half of it because we’re married. Unless we had a prenup, which I never even thought about.”

“I didn’t either,” Len said.

Maybe that was part of the bond, too. The absolute trust that he had in Len. Even with that, he had still acted without even asking. “So, the house? Where are we?”

Surprisingly, Len laughed. “Every damned time you do something like this, and you do it all the time in so many ways, I have forgotten again that you think you’re in charge. And the thing is, I do the same thing. Add to that, I tell you what to do all the time.”

“That’s true, and I find it so amusing,” Chris said. “I’m not half as bossy as you are about it. But I take charge because it’s in my nature to do that. I try to be fair about things.” He met Len’s eyes. “But I am what I was trained to be.”

That was probably not the answer Len was looking for, even if it was the truth. He did not seem pleased with Chris. And if Chris reversed each issue, well, that never worked out well for the other person.

“So, even after the fact, having my name on the title is fine.” Len leaned down and kissed him. “You need to consider me and my view in your decisions. Try to remember to ask me what I want once in a while.”

“You’re not angry? Because you have every right to be,” Chris said. He’d be angry and was angry whenever anyone did something like what he’d done. Well, except when it was Len because then Chris found it amusing or endearing. So maybe it was the same for Len. He’d rather have Len amused with him than angry at him.

“No. As you said, this is just who you are,” Len said, running a hand through Chris’ hair. “And I need to accept that.”

“I’m sure there are probably many other things that I’ve taken care of and forgotten to mention,” Chris pointed out lightly.

“And I’m sure there are things on my side, too.” Len kissed him again. “We are used to making unilateral decisions and then forget to mention it because we are so easily distracted by each other.”

“We are.” Chris leaned up, kissing him for a few minutes. And then pulled back. “So, there’s more,” Chris said and told Len about what Amelia told him about his father and what her solution would be.

“Well, that seems like a reasonable solution. He’ll get the help he needs and still be away from anyone else, and that will prevent him from causing any further harm.” Len looked at him. “You’re upset about that.”

“I don’t know what I feel. I’m probably too emotionally compromised to think clearly about it,” Chris said with a deep sigh.

“Yes. I sense there’s something else. Something more painful. Though how that could be, I don’t know.” Len looked at him, clearly waiting for an answer.

Chris let out another sigh and looked down. This was harder to admit than he thought it should be. “Amelia knows something about my past that you don’t. And I am bound by my oaths never to speak of it with someone who does not already know. It’s highly classified.”

“I’m guessing that she’s not bound by the same oaths, and she is willing to tell me?” Len asked.

“I don’t feel like I can even tell you that, though I also feel like I’m being pushed to talk about it.” Chris breathed out. “This is the first time I’ve felt pushed like that. I’m not even sure pushed is the right word. It’s like a need for you to know.” It didn’t feel right. What happened with the Discovery was far in the past. And while it made a significant impact on his life, the events had all been overcome with time. So, why now?

“I’m not going to ask you about it,” Len said, his brow furrowed. “But I will talk to Amelia at some point. I want to interview her about how the bond manifests between her and Grant, anyway.”

“I think she’d tell you anything you wanted to know,” Chris said. He couldn’t get past the feeling that he needed to have Len know about the Discovery and its impact on him. Maybe that was why he had asked Amelia about it.

“I’ll do that,” Len said, standing and pulling off his clothes. He lay down and gathered Chris into his arms, and kissed him. “I know what we should do right now.”

Chris smiled against his mouth. “I think that is an excellent idea.”

Len rolled them so that Chris was on top of him. And then he stilled and took a deep breath. “I am feeling pushed, and I’m not sure I like that.”

Chris rolled off him and sat up. “Are you feeling compelled? I can’t force you. I won’t.”

“I wouldn’t call it forced, not exactly. I’m not sure what it is,” Len said, frowning. “Except when you’re in pain, I am always willing to touch you in any way you want or need to be touched.”

“Even when I’m in pain, which is much less lately, you will put your hands on me to ease it. And it does. I realize now that I associate your touch with easing the pain I’m in, as well as giving me comfort and pleasure.”

Len smiled at that. “Kiss me,” Len said. His tone was curious, almost like he was trying to solve a problem.

Chris lay back down next to him, taking him into his arms and kissing him softly. Tenderly. Len responded, deepening the kiss. Chris kissed him again, enjoying the feel of Len’s mouth responding on his. The tension built between them as it always did. Chris’ arms tightened around him, and Chris’ thigh slid between Len’s legs. They moved closer, pressing against each other.

“Okay, now,” Chris asked, between the kisses.

“I think so. All I feel now is that I want this to go on for a long time.”

“I can make that happen,” Chris murmured, kissing Len leisurely, and his mouth opened under Chris’. He moved his mouth to the side of Len’s neck and got a shiver and a moan from Len. Slowly, Chris started to work down Len’s body, his tongue sliding along smooth skin, tasting familiar flavors.

Len’s head pressed back into the pillow, and he was moaning by the time Chris got to his hip bone. He nuzzled his face into the hollow there and continued to move downward. Chris loved the taste, smell, and textures of Len’s body.

After another second or two. Len’s hand was in his hair, and he breathed out, “Face to face?”

“Absolutely,” Chris said. He shifted and slicked his fingers, beginning to work on Len. When he finally had Len relaxed and ready, he pushed Len’s legs back and braced them with his body, and he moved in very slowly.

Slick, wet heat surrounded him, and he had to bite his lip to keep from coming from that alone. Chris loved this feeling so much, being so close, being a part of him. Chris moaned softly, and so did Len.

“Okay, beloved? You feel so amazingly good,” Chris whispered, pressing in further, pulling back and surging forward again.

Len made an incoherent sound that Chris decided was very pleased. He pulled out and pushed back in, and Len’s back arched off the mattress, and he made the same sound but at a higher pitch. As much as Chris tried to set a rhythm, it was impossible to keep it up without drowning in the pleasure of Len’s body. Reaching down, he stroked Len with a slick hand, and Len mewled loudly as he started to come. Chris moaned, too, as the wave of pleasure around him crashed through him, taking him down under with it.

It took a second to come back from that. After, they lay together panting and holding each other, exchanging soft, sated kisses.

After a while, Len pulled back a little and looked like he might say something but didn’t.

“Are you all right?” Chris asked.

“I am. I’m uneasy about what happened before,” Len said, sounding, if not quite upset, then something close to it.

And that made Chris even more concerned. “Can you describe it?”

Len closed his eyes for a moment and then sighed. “It was like I was being pushed to have sex with you. And when I said something, and you said you wouldn’t force me. Whatever it was, stopped.”

Chris wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Was it the bond? Did it seem…malevolent?”

“It was the bond, and it seemed needy,” Len said. “It seemed like I needed to touch you, whether I wanted to or not. And the thing is, I did want to. I almost always do want to.” Len laughed. “We’ve got that whole teenaged hormone thing going on.”

Which, at their age, was both silly and delightful. “Do you think the negative reaction might be enough to discourage it from trying that again,” Chris asked.

“You seemed to want to anthropomorphize it,” Len said. “Or do you think it’s sentient outside of us?”

“I don’t know. It’s something. And it’s stronger in you than it is in me. Though it’s getting stronger in me as well. Maybe it’s sentient between us,” Chris suggested. And he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of that.

“We need to find some answers,” Len said. “But what surprises me the most is that no one else has wanted or needed answers enough to look for them.”

“I want answers, too,” Chris said and then yawned. “But not tonight, beloved. Let’s go to sleep, and we can worry about this in the morning.”

Len gathered him closer and kissed him one more time. “Good night, my darlin'”

*****

Monday morning, Chris arrived at his office to find Derek there. He was dressed in his work clothes, not in his uniform. It surprised Chris to see him looking like nothing had happened.

Instead of going into his office, he sat in the chair across from Derek’s desk.

“Good morning, sir,” Derek said. “What can I do for you?”

Chris tilted his head. That was the same thing he’d said every time he’d sat in that chair. It all seemed so normal. “I’ll be honest. After last week, I’m having some trouble wrapping my mind around you still pretending to be my admin.”

Derek smiled at that. “You know, sir, I’ve thought about that a lot this weekend. They are paying my salary for doing it. So, I don’t see why not.”

“I think we’re done with the pretense. So, what’s going to happen is that we will move the latest temp out of security and have him work here. You’re going to take, well officially take, the security position on my staff. And we can negotiate what you’d like to do after we go to Xahea,” Chris said.

“I like being out here to see who comes and goes from your office,” Derek said. “And it has already proven to be helpful. I’m more than capable of dealing with whoever might come into your office with hostility on their mind.”

“I would have said that a threat would be hard pressed to get this far, but that’s already been proven wrong,” Chris admitted. “But the threat has been mitigated –”

“For now, sir,” Derek said. “You’re stationary and have known empathic abilities as well as a documented bond.” Derek cleared his throat. “And you’re not one hundred percent yet, either.”

He would probably never be completely one hundred percent of what he was before the accident. So, Chris knew he was right. But Chris also knew that it was time for the charade to stop. “There’s another office right over there,” Chris said, pointing to the other door in his outer office. “Leave the door open, and you’ll know who is coming and going. You can also hear if the admin or yeomen is having a problem with someone.”

“Fine. I can’t argue with that,” Derek said. “Do you want to talk about the size of your family list?”

“Nope,” Chris said. “Leave that alone. I want to be accessible to anyone who needs to see me.”

Derek let out a sigh. “You’re going to continue to be difficult about this, aren’t you, sir?”

Chris laughed. “You sound like Doctor McCoy. Whom I’m told you ran a full background check on. Even though he was already in Starfleet.”

“Pike-McCoy,” Derek corrected him.

Damn, he’d messed it up again. “Him too,” Chris said. “So?”

“What would you like me to say to that, sir?” Derek did not look repentant. As a matter of fact, he looked resolute about it.

“Bob April made you do it, didn’t he?” Chris asked. “And you probably agreed with him.”

Derek looked at him for a moment and then sighed. “I did agree. Even with the consent forms and the possibility of an undocumented bond, it was still very fast. –”

Chris gritted his teeth and tried to reign in his temper. He’d had this discussion with Bob April, and Phil at the time. He hadn’t appreciated it coming from his friends. He liked it less now. “It was my choice, and it wasn’t up for discussion.”

“But stand back and think about how that might look to someone from the outside, which I am,” Derek said evenly. “In the time I’ve known you, you’ve never shown any interest in anyone, and then suddenly, you’re deeply involved with a man you literally just met.”

He’d spent most of the time he’d known Derek in enough pain not to be interested in anything other than figuring out what he needed to do to relieve it. By the time he’d met Len, he’d been at the point where he had just started to have days when the pain abated enough to be forgotten for hours at a time rather than just minutes. It had been such a relief.

When Chris said nothing to that, Derek took a deep breath and met his eyes. “And no offense, sir, you were pretty vulnerable when you met him.”

At least none of his friends put it like that, but it was probably what they were all thinking. It was also probably more accurate than Chris would admit to anyone, ever. Addressing that now would not add anything to the conversation.

Before Chris could say anything, Derek went on, “He came up clean on everything. With an excellent reputation, not only as an outstanding doctor but also as an honorable man. After seeing you both together a few times, it was also clear what was between you both.”

Chris sat back. He wasn’t going to talk about that. “I think we’re done with this discussion.”

“Of course, sir,” Derek agreed, sounding a little relieved.

Chris was, too. “I’d like to see you in uniform tomorrow. See if you can get the temp moved in here. And then I’ll start the process of getting a permanent replacement.”

“Yes, sir,” Derek said.

“Also, fix your name.” he touched the nameplate that said, Derek Vance.

“That’s on my list of things to do,” Derek said. “It was hard to remember, especially at the start, to answer to Vance alone. I’ve been Swender-Vance for over ten years and Swender before that.”

“As you’ve just seen, I’m having no end of trouble remembering to use Pike-McCoy. It’s not easy to learn a new trick at my age.” Chris might love his new last name, but he was constantly forgetting to use it for both of them.

“I suspect it’s easier to do when you start younger,” Derek said.

He was probably right.

*****

A few days later, Len came into Chris’ office. Chris kissed him when he got around the desk. “What brings you here today, beloved?”

“Just stopping by for my afternoon kiss,” Len said, leaning in and kissing him again. “I have been busy the last few days.”

“I did notice it had been a while since you just showed up in my office for that. I was wondering if the shine had worn thin,” Chris said.

“Never.” Len stood and drew him into his arms completely and kissed him slowly, deeply. His hands slid down Chris’ back to settle on his ass.

Chris’ hands followed the same trail on Len. He could feel Len about to give in, but this was not the place for that. “Before you head too far down the road, I can tell you’re on. You should know that I heard an interesting rumor,” Chris said against his mouth.

“And what would that be, my darlin’?” Len kissed him again but then pulled back a little.

“That there is passive surveillance in all the offices,” Chris said. He’d asked Derek about it, and he’d confirmed it.

“Privacy controls?” Len asked.

“Nope. That only locks it, so an admiral has to view it before archival. An admiral other than the one whose office it is.”

“Fuck.”

“We’re not supposed to be doing what we’re doing or anything else in an office in Starfleet.”

“We’re married. Plus, we have consent forms filed,” Len said. “Besides even that, this is how our bond manifests. I’m not going to give up kissing you in the afternoons. They can all watch us if they want.”

Chris laughed. “Nothing else, though. We kiss in public all the time.”

“I would do it for spite on your desk whenever you wanted. ” Len snickered and then leaned in to kiss him again and slid a hand under Chris’ jacket and shirt to caress his bare back. “Wouldn’t you like to be fucked over your desk or maybe fuck me over it? They will all be jealous of what you’re getting.”

Chris took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He didn’t need either of those images in his mind for the rest of the afternoon. “Of that, I’m sure. But no. Sadly, we are not doing anything like that on my desk,” Chris said. That fantasy was so hot. He’d love to do it. But they were not putting on a show for anyone else. So, no.

“Too bad, you’re probably in good enough shape now that we could,” Len said, but he stepped back and removed his hands from under Chris’ jacket. “What else is going on?”

“Amelia is coming by later tonight, probably with Grant, Lily, and Lucas. I’m assuming she’s got a final update on what is going on with Charles and possibly Willa,” Chris said.

“Which is what exactly? Did he take the deal?”

Chris nodded. He was still surprised that Amelia had pulled it off. “Yes. He had enough information to bring the whole organization down. There will be many people charged out of that. And he’s going to a private clinic that Amelia says will help him.”

“And your mother?”

“They are still working on detoxing her. They’ve brought in a specialized team, and they think it will help her. Maybe as soon as next week. I’ve kept Jon up to date. He can get back here fairly quickly if he needs to.” Chris would have to wait and see what happened to her. Waiting, though, was hard.

“Are you going to speak to your father?” Len asked.

“No,” Chris said and then smiled at him a little. “I don’t think that it would serve any purpose. I think you’re right on this one, and I’m going to do what you said.”

Len snickered at him. “Any chance that obedience will continue?”

“You don’t actually think that’s likely?” Chris said, laughing. “You know me, right?”

“I do. And it was just a suggestion,” Len said kissing him.

“But that reminds me, William told me to ask you about your father.”

“In what context?” Len asked.

“The whole ordering me around thing you’ve got going on. He seemed to find it funny for some reason.”

Len smiled at that. “My Daddy told you what to do and expected you to do it.”

“You haven’t talked a lot about him,” Chris said. “Your mom and I talked about him one of the nights she was staying with us. She told me there was an age gap.”

“There was. And that must have been so hard. They loved each other so much,” Len said. “But because Daddy was older, and he was old fashioned. He just expected everyone to do what he told them to do.”

“What happened when they didn’t?” Chris asked carefully.

“He’d huff and tell them they should have listened to him,” Len said, smiling. As if the memory was good.

“He didn’t get angry or punish you for disobeying him?”

Len was still smiling as he shook his head. “No. Momma was the one to punish you for doing something stupid. She took away your toys or put you in a time-out. Daddy would just grumble. And if he was right, he might say I told you so. But he was more likely to just hug you, tell you he loved you anyway, and say maybe don’t do somethin’ that stupid again.

“And that bossiness comes from your dad?” Chris asked.

“That and I’m a doctor, and I expect everyone to listen to me. It goes with the territory,” Len kissed him. “Just like you always bein’ in charge of everything in your orbit –”

“It goes with the territory,” Chris said, mirroring what Len had said. “I think everything is my responsibility.”

“I do understand that.” Len looked at him. “Are you okay with your mom?”

“I’m going to do whatever I can to help her deal with what he did to her. If she lets me.” And Chris wasn’t sure she would. In fact, he was sure she wouldn’t. But he had to at least try. “It’s probably going to be pretty awful.”

“I’m sure you’re right about that. But I’ll be right there beside you. You know that, right,” Len assured him.

“If I know nothing else in the world, I do know that. Thank you.”

Len drew him back into his arms and kissed him softly.

*****

Chapter Thirteen – A Long Broken Road

It was about a week later when the doctors had gotten Chris’ mother off the drugs entirely and stabilized. Chris made arrangements with Jon to see her.

“Chris,” Jon said as he approached him outside their mother’s room. “What’s going on with Mom?”

“Thanks for getting here so quickly,” Chris said. “They have her stabilized, and she’s conscious and lucid. I haven’t seen her, but she’s asked for both of us.”

Jon drew in a deep breath. “This isn’t going to be good, is it?”

“I don’t think so. But it’s not like we can walk away.” Chris felt obligated to see her. He was sure she probably wouldn’t say anything he wanted to hear, but Chris still felt he had to give her a chance to explain.

Jon looked down and then back at Chris. “We could. But even with everything they did, I’m not sure I’d be able to live with myself if I walked away.”

“Me neither. Whatever Willa did, whatever she let happen, she was the victim here. Even if she wasn’t before it,” Chris said.

“I don’t expect her attitude to have changed. No matter what Dad did to her,” Jon said with his hand on the door.

Chris shook his head. He didn’t either. “We should go in,” he said.

Jon knocked, and the door snicked open. Willa Pike was sitting in a chair by the window, looking frail and hunched in on herself, as if all the life had been sucked out of her. Much more so than the last time Chris had seen her, which, okay, was more than a decade ago.

She looked up, and her eyes widened a little. “Jonathan, Christopher, I wasn’t sure you’d see me.”

Chris had no idea what to say to her.

“I wasn’t sure I’d come, but I’m here now,” Jon said with a sigh.

“What did you want to see us about?” Chris said. He couldn’t sense anything from her. She wasn’t empathic, so she shouldn’t have known how to block her emotions. It was as if she was a blank wall, making the situation even more disconcerting.

Willa looked him up and down. “I just wanted to see how you both were. But especially you, Christopher. I didn’t expect you to be walking, much less without any aid at all.”

“I can walk without a cane now.” He had left the cane outside the door. There was a strategic advantage to not looking weak. It was a shame he felt he needed to think about that with Willa, but this was his life with her.

Willa looked surprised. “We saw you after the accident for a few minutes before that horrible friend of yours arrested us.”

Phil couldn’t arrest her, so it was someone else. “Una Chin-Riley? She’s one of my closest friends. You weren’t supposed to be in my room without permission.” Chris remembered what Amelia had said. “Why were you there? What was he trying to do to me that day?” Or any other day, apparently.

“We’d heard about the accident. We just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Willa said. “We both still cared about you, even after everything.”

Chris could tell that she was lying. He closed his eyes for a moment. “Why would I believe that? It’s been years since I’ve even seen either of you.”

“I’m your mother. I care about you.” Again, she said it like she meant it, but it was not true. He could tell what she was feeling now, and while it wasn’t violence or hatred, it wasn’t much of anything else, either. It was as if she’d given up and just didn’t care about anything or anyone.

Chris looked at Jon, and he shrugged. He was sure that Jon sensed her ambivalence toward them both. And that she wanted something.

“Aren’t you going to say anything to me,” she asked after the silence had stretched out for a moment or two longer.

“No. I can tell when I’m being lied to. So, why don’t you tell me the truth,” Chris said. This conversation was probably only going to get worse. He wished he could take a step back emotionally, but that didn’t seem possible.

She looked surprised. “I’m not sure what your father wanted to do. But I think Charles meant you harm. I wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. So, I went with him. But I was already going to file for divorce again.”

“Why did you pull it back?” Chris asked. “Either time?”

“I pulled it back the first time because I realized I still loved him. Even after he’d made a hash of his and my relationship with you,” Willa said, looking at him. “I agreed with so much of what he said about aliens and their influence on Earth. Not all of what he thought. I didn’t care about finding out anything about what caused empathy to emerge in the population. I didn’t have it, but I know he did, even though he said that he didn’t.”

“Do you know why he denied what he was,” Chris asked. “I could never sense anything from him, so I think he knew how to hide it.”

“He rarely spoke much about it,” Willa said. “I think he met someone before me who helped him control it. Someone when he was in college, I think.”

“Do you know if he still had contact with that person?” Chris had never thought about the why with Charles. Truthfully, he didn’t care anymore.

“No. I think he might have died. The person. It was someone Charles was close to. But he met and married me. As the years went on, he got closer and closer to the edge. And hurting you was just too far for me to let him go. That organization he belonged to was horrible. They were too violent, and they pulled him farther away from sanity.” Willa breathed out and shook her head. “They couldn’t see reason, and eventually, Charles couldn’t see it either.”

Chris knew he should say something about what she’d just said, but he could not address Charles or the organization he belonged to yet. “And the second time,” he asked.

“I think that was when Charles started to drug me. I don’t remember huge swatches of time. But I still agree with what he believed. We should not let aliens on the planet. We should not be part of the Federation. But I don’t think what he did to you was right. I would have let you go into space and see for yourself that all aliens are savages. We shouldn’t associate with them. They don’t have the same morals as we do.”

Chris sucked in a breath and held it for a moment. Somehow, he’d forgotten about the way they spoke of beings who weren’t entirely from Earth. “I find what you just said so offensive that I’m stunned by it. You’ve never been out of this area and have never met more than a handful of non-earth-based humans in your entire life, let alone any other beings. So, you are talking from a place of utter ignorance. You don’t know.”

She sat up, looking outraged. “I know what I’ve heard and what I’ve read and what I’ve seen on the news.”

“Which is meaningless,” Chris spat out, a knot of rage forming in his gut. “I have been out there. And I will tell you that the non-earth-based humans are no different than anyone here. And there are alien races that are tremendously more advanced socially and technologically and so much more compassionate than we are. Many others are more evolved than we are, more benevolent, and even kinder. And even the warrior races have deep-rooted cultures, yes, different than we are, but just as valuable. There is so much benefit to us in knowing everything we can about these cultures.”

She sneered at that. “And there are some that are less so. Some are savages. Who would kill us all just because they can.”

Chris thought of the Gorn. “Some, absolutely. But we take the bad with the good. And the good is so much better than the bad. And the beauty of some of the places I’ve been to and the things I have seen is breathtaking. I want nothing more in my life than to return to space and see new things.”

Jon put a hand on his arm and squeezed it. “I agree with Chris. You have no idea what you’re talking about. But you asked to see us, so please tell us why?”

“I thought it was obvious. You are my sons. I expect you to help me,” she said, not addressing what Chris had just said.

Chris looked at Jon and then back at her. “With what, exactly.”

“Your father has pled guilty to an assortment of felonious crimes. I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I haven’t worked in years. I’m too old to do anything now, anyway. What am I going to do?” she said, sounding downtrodden. As if this were Jon and his fault somehow, and now, they were supposed to fix it.

“I don’t know,” Chris said, surprised that after everything, she still felt like she could demand anything from them. “What do you expect from us? You can stay on the ranch you and Charles had in Mojave. You get a basic retirement income from when you worked and there should be some other credits and assets for you to live on. In fact, given how long you were married, you should be eligible for a portion of Charles’ teaching pension.”

“That fucking bitch Amelia –”

“What did you just call the matriarch of my family?” Chris snapped, failing to keep any of his outrage out of his voice. He wasn’t going to let anyone talk about Amelia like that.

Willa’s eyes widened and she looked shocked by the rebuke. “How well do you even know her?”

Chris was silent for a moment, a little surprised that Amelia hadn’t told his mother anything about their relationship. “She is the closest thing I’ve had to a mother for the last twenty-six years. When you and Charles kicked me out of your life, she and Grant welcomed me into theirs.” And took the fuck over, but that was not something he was going to discuss with her.

He glanced at Jon, whom he’d told at least some of this, and even Jon looked a little surprised by what he’d said. Willa looked stunned. She raised a hand to her chest. “I should have let your father kill her when he had the chance.”

Chris opened his mouth to say something he would probably regret, and Jon shook his head. “Are you saying that he wanted to kill Amelia?” Jon asked, his tone controlled and quiet.

“I don’t think he would have done it. Amelia is his sister. But he talked about it a few times. He thought he should be patriarch, but that wasn’t going to happen.” She didn’t seem to have a problem with the idea that Charles might have wanted to harm anyone. That said a lot about her actual mental state. She needed help.

Chris steadied himself and went with the obvious. “Amelia is a trained police officer, and Charles is a retired high school science teacher. She would have wiped the floor with him,” Chris said. “And the rest of the Pike family would never have accepted him under any circumstances. Do you think they don’t know what you and he are?”

Jon shook his head again. And Chris sighed.

“All right, let’s go back to what you want,” Chris said. “I’m sure the family will take care of you, which you should at least be grateful for rather than running down Amelia. And I can see that having me here is upsetting you. I’m the same person I was when you both walked away, and if anything, I’m less likely to put up with your rampant prejudice.”

“I’m not prejudiced –”

Jon snorted out a laugh at that. “I’m sorry. What would you call the fact you hate anyone who isn’t from Earth?”

“I had such high hopes for you, Jonathan. But you divorced Emily, and now she’s remarried.” She said it as if she thought Jon didn’t know that. She turned to Chris and her lips turned down in disgust. “And you, I’m not even going to get into who you married.”

Chris was sorry she even knew about Len. “I married a brilliant, dedicated doctor. Someone who literally saved my life. That’s all you ever need to know about him.”

When she started to say something about that, Chris said, “You will not speak about him. Ever.” Because he would walk away without a backward glance if she said one wrong word.

Jon picked it up in the silence that followed. “As for Emily, she invited me to her wedding. Which is more than I can say about you and my father or her parents,” Jon said with a lightness that said he was trying to take a step back emotionally. “But I am never going to set foot in Mojave again. I’ve got an off-world job now.” He looked at her. “Emily and I were divorced more than twenty years ago and never told you or her family for obvious reasons.”

“What?” she said sounding shocked. “How could you lie to us? We raised you better than that.” Her tone was scolding. And clearly, she expected a reaction from Jon.

“Yeah,” Jon said with a laugh. “I’ve spent years in therapy dealing with how I was raised. But okay. It’s done. Let’s get back to what you need. As Chris said, the family will take care of you. You should be able to continue the life you had before.”

“Except I can’t live there now. Everyone will know that Charles pled guilty to a capital crime. I’ll be humiliated.”

How could she be so supremely unconcerned about what he’d done to her? “He drugged you for years,” Chris pointed out. “I think that would garner you some sympathy.”

“Please don’t let anyone know that either. It will make it even worse.” She sighed. “And I don’t want to talk to that –” she cut herself off. “Amelia.”

“Well, I’m not sure you’ll have much choice. Amelia will make sure you can live as you please,” Chris said. “Neither of us controls the family assets or credits. That is what the family does. Even for you. Amelia will find you a community to live in and set you up.”

“Your prejudice probably won’t go over very well anywhere other than your little community in Mojave,” Jon said.

“What are you talking about? Most people believe the way we do –”

Jon shook his head. “No, most people don’t. Your views on the Earth are about two hundred and fifty years out of date.”

Willa looked surprised by that. “I’ve always heard that –”

“What you hear in a backward province doesn’t mean it’s true anywhere else in the world,” Chris said. “Maybe it’s time you got a little more educated on the realities of Earth. Maybe read the news here?”

“How can anyone believe the mainstream media news? It’s all lies and half-truths,” she said. And she sounded like she knew it for a fact. At this point, that wasn’t even much of a surprise.

“Look, I need to get back to my job,” Jon said, clearly done with the conversation. “I’ll call Amelia and have her come talk to you.”

That answer seemed to surprise her. “I’m your mother. I love both of you. You should be the ones helping me.”

“You loved us right up until we didn’t obey you anymore, and then you withdrew that love and, in my case, threw me out of your life,” Chris said. The truth left a bitter taste in his mouth that was hard to swallow.

“You were always so damned independent. Always thinking about what you wanted to do, and not what we wanted you to do,” Willa spat out.

They were talking at each other not to each other, and Chris realized that there was no use in continuing this discussion. In his entire adult life, Chris had rarely failed so badly at communicating with anyone as he’d just done with her.

And he’d had enough. “I’m glad you’re awake and alive. I will speak to Amelia on your behalf.” With that, Chris turned around and walked out. He stood in the corridor with his hands braced against the wall, breathing hard. After a few seconds more, Jon came out, and he looked as wrecked as Chris felt.

Jon kicked the wall in the corridor. “God damn it. Fucking backward idiots. How can anyone think like that,” Jon growled.

“Hurting yourself won’t make it better,” Chris said. “I have dealt with violent aliens trying to kill me and my crew better than I just dealt with Willa and her prejudices.”

“The aliens weren’t your mother,” Jon said with a smile. “It wasn’t personal. Or at least not like this is.”

Chris huffed out a bitter laugh. “When did you get to be so smart?”

“I was born that way. But she took a toll on both of us,” Jon said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“She hasn’t changed. All the years, all the emotional torture, and everything Charles did to her. How can she still be the same?” Chris asked. “How can she still think like that.”

“I don’t know. I can’t do this again. Maybe you can talk to Amelia and see if they can get her into some kind of therapy. She’s pretty much lost touch with reality,” Jon said, looking like he’d like to kick the wall again.

“I’ll mention it, but I think she probably has to consent to it,” Chris said. “Let’s get out of here. Do you want to have dinner?”

That got a small smile from Jon. “Are you cooking?”

“Yeah, that would be good right now. Maybe something French,” Chris said. Losing himself in cooking something complicated might be just the ticket. “Len should be home tonight. At least in theory.”

Jon laughed. “You were the one who married a doctor. You get what you get with that.”

“Yeah, not only a doctor, a brilliant, dedicated doctor. That absolutely guarantees interrupted and missed meals,” Chris said with a shrug.

“You don’t seem unhappy with the thought,” Jon pointed out.

“I’m not. I am good with Len being as talented as he is. I understand and appreciate his commitment to what he does.” Chris was sure at some point, some missed event would annoy him. But now, he just accepted it as part of the package.

*****

“When do you have to get back,” Chris asked as Jon settled at the table and looked up his favorite recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon.

“I told them I wasn’t sure. I can use a break. We’ve been working pretty much nonstop for weeks. I’m going to take at least the weekend,” Jon said.

“Do you want to stay with us? Or go back to your apartment?” Chris asked.

“The apartment is mostly storage right now. So, yes, thanks. If it won’t be too inconvenient, I’ll stay with you,” Jon said.

“Not at all. I have four bedrooms upstairs, and the downstairs study has a very comfortable pull-out bed. Pick one,” Chris said, smiling. “Do you at least feel like you’re getting something accomplished for all the hours you’re working? That always helped me with those kinds of months.”

Jon nodded. “It sometimes seems endless, but it’s been a great experience. When I’m not working, I’ve been able to explore the planet a bit. It’s similar to Earth, but not the same.”

Chris nodded and started pulling some ingredients out of the cabinets. His comm dinged, and he opened it. “Una? What’s up?”

“I talked to Amelia earlier. She said you were seeing your mother,” Una said.

“Yes, we did,” Chris said with a sigh.

“I can tell by your voice it didn’t go well,” Una said.

Chris looked at Jon, who was clearly listening. “Not at all. It was just about what you and Amelia said it would be. She hadn’t changed.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Anything I can do?” Una asked.

“Nope. I’m making dinner right now. Do you want to come by?”

“Can’t. I’ve got a date tonight,” she said, smiling.

“Someone fun, I hope?” Chris laughed.

“Hopefully. I need to go. I just wanted to check up on you,” Una said. “I’ll talk to you this week, and maybe we can get together for dinner then.”

“Sounds good. Pike out,” Chris said and looked at Jon. “She’s –”

“Your old XO? I think you’ve mentioned her in the past. Though you didn’t say much about her,” Jon said, sounding a little curious.

Though why he would be, Chris couldn’t guess. “She’s a good friend,” Chris said.

The door snicked open and then shut. Len came in and kissed him. He also hugged Jon. “It’s good to see you. How did it go?” Len asked.

“Not as well as we’d hoped,” Jon said.

Between them, they told Len about what happened. He just sighed. “Given everything you’ve told me in the last few months, I could have guessed that. Those kinds of attitudes don’t change easily. I think she clearly hasn’t processed what was done to her yet. That might get her thinking about it. But it might go too far against what she believes.”

Jon tilted his head a little. “Do you think that she might think about it?”

“I couldn’t begin to say without talking to her. And she has probably been indoctrinated into this her whole life,” Len said.

Chris knew what Len had said was probably right. But maybe she’d see the light. If she did, then she’d have to deal with a lifetime of having thought and acted in a manner that was not acceptable to the vast majority of the people on Earth. She was probably too old for that.

“Are you okay?” Len asked, standing beside him and putting a hand on his arm. “This can’t have been easy.”

“Yes. And no, it wasn’t.” Chris sighed. He leaned into Len for a moment but then stepped back and stirred the pot. It was almost done.

*****

After dinner, Jon had gone up to bed, pleading exhaustion.

Chris said something about calling Amelia about his mother as soon as he finished cleaning up from dinner. He opened his comm and put it on the screen in the kitchen. “Christopher Pike to Amelia Pike,” Chris said.

“Chris,” Amelia said on the screen. “I’ve been waiting to hear from you. How did it go?”

“About as badly as you said it would,” Chris said with a sigh. “You were right, she hasn’t changed at all.”

“I’m sorry,” Amelia said. “Tell me about it.”

Chris told her about the meeting. Not in a lot of detail, and Len could feel his continued distress with the situation. He came over to stand next to Chris. Len waved to Amelia but didn’t interrupt. He’d agreed with Amelia that despite the trauma Willa had gone through, she wasn’t going to change what she believed without something more happening. She needed extensive therapy.

“Of course,” Amelia said. “I’ll take care of everything for her. Even if she wants to move somewhere else. However, if she continues spouting her outdated views of other beings, she will be isolated in any kind of modern environment. Mojave Provence is, well, you know what it is.”

“I do. Sadly. Thanks for everything again.” Chris said.

Len cleared his throat. “If I can butt in to change the subject. I’ve submitted a proposal to Starfleet for a long-term study of empathy and bonding. I’ve been meaning to ask you about an interview. Things have been insane.”

“I would be happy to help you. If you could call my admin, he’ll find you a time this coming week. There are other things we should also talk about,” Amelia said.

“There are. But I’ll let you go now,” Len said.

“And we should have dinner this week,” Chris said. “I have a lot of leftover Boeuf Bourguignon, which I know Grant likes a lot.”

“Tomorrow is good. I still like your Chicken Ground Nut Stew better than anything else you make,” Amelia said.

Chris laughed. “We’ll see you tomorrow. Will Lily and Lucas also be coming with you?”

“I don’t know,” Amelia said with a shrug. “Have you talked to Lily lately?”

“About a week ago, briefly. She’s still annoyed with me about the wedding –”

“I told her that you needed to get married immediately, and that the hotel had a cancelation and that was it for months,” Amelia said with a laugh.

“She is stubborn, and the truth is, I wasn’t thinking about anything other than being married to Len,” Chris said. “Speaking of Lily, I didn’t mention it to her, but I looked into the twins biological Vulcan family. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary for a xenophobic, logic extremist clan. She doesn’t need to have anything to do with them.”

“Exactly,” Amelia agreed. “We’ll see you both tomorrow.”

“Good night,” Len said.

And Chris disconnected the comm. He looked up at Len. “Bed?”

“Yeah,” Len said, taking him into his arms and kissing him softly.

Chris sighed in pleasure and ran a hand down Len’s back holding him close for a moment before letting him go. “Let’s go upstairs.”

*****

“Are you all right, my darlin’,” Len said, taking Chris back into his arms as soon as the door closed.

Chris put his head down on Len’s shoulder. “I’m okay. I was hoping for a better situation with Willa. I had hoped that Amelia and you were wrong.”

“How did you know what I was thinking about that?” Len asked, tightening his arms, and holding him.

“I just knew you agreed with Amelia,” Chris said.

“I’m sorry, darlin’. I know it has to hurt. Even if you say you were over your parents twenty years ago, she’s still your mother. And she still has beliefs that you can’t abide,” Len said, his fingers moving slowly up and down Chris’ spine.

Chris nodded. “I know. I also know there is nothing I can do about it. She is what she was raised to be, and nothing will change it. And at this point, she isn’t even going to try to hide it anymore.”

“It’s going to make for a lonely existence for her. But she’s made her choices,” Len said.

“I keep thinking there should be something I can do. But anything I’d want to be done would need her consent, and she won’t give it.”

“Not unless you can get her declared mentally unfit. But I don’t see that happening.” Len held him a little closer. “I don’t think you should see her again.”

“Not unless something changes. Or I can get some emotional distance. I’m too close to it after seeing her again,” Chris said.

“I know,” Len said quietly. He leaned in to kiss Chris.

“Now, I think it’s time for us to get into bed and maybe do some things before we get some sleep,” Chris said, kissing him back, and then moving back to help with Len’s clothes.

When they were lying in bed, side by side, kissing softly, Len asked, “What is your pleasure, my darlin’?”

“Do you want to see if I’m finally flexible enough for face-to-face?” Chris asked.

Len was pretty sure that Chris could manage that now. All of Chris’ months of early morning yoga were finally going to be good for something other than waking him up when Chris got out of bed. “I’m always pleased to see what you can do.”

“So am I,” Chris said and leaned in, kissing Len tenderly.

Len slid on top of him, delighting in the feel of Chris’ response to him. Chris’ head pressed back into the pillows, and he moaned, shivering as Len used his hands and his mouth on his body. He was in no hurry and was content to enjoy each sound that came out of Chris as he touched him.

Finally, Chris was ready for him, and Len arranged Chris’ long legs and pressed in. “How are you doing, my darlin’,” Len asked.

“Good,” Chris gasped out. “Better if you’d start to move.”

“I can do that,” Len said and leaned down to kiss him, then did as he’d been asked. With the delicious tight heat and slick movements heightening his desire, the pleasure started to crest quickly, and Len waited until Chris was finished and then allowed himself to follow.

Later, they lay against each other, still coming down from the height of their pleasure. Len’s heart rate was starting to slow. He kissed Chris a few more times, but he was done. “Sleep, my darlin’,” he whispered to Chris.

Chris’ eyes were already closed, and he nodded slightly, kissing Len one more time.

*****

Chapter Fourteen – Secrets Revealed

Len made his way up into the San Francisco police headquarters. The building was a labyrinth of corridors that all looked the same. Without instructions, it would be hard to find anyone, and even with them, Len wasn’t sure he was going in the right direction.

The security here was better than in Starfleet. He’d been asked twice so far what he was doing here. And he’d come during working hours, so he was in uniform, too. Len rounded a corner, and there was a desk with a young man sitting behind it.

The man looked up as Len approached. “How can I help you, Captain?”

That took a second. His promotion had gone through, but he wasn’t quite used to it yet. “I’m here to see Chief Pike.”

“You are?”

“Doctor Leonard McCoy — Pike-McCoy,” he said, smiling that he’d gotten it wrong again. He and Chris might have loved the idea of merging their names, but even after almost two months of marriage, it was still damned hard to remember to use it. He screwed it up constantly, and so did Chris.

The man looked down and then back at him, surprised. “Chief Pike said she would see you as soon as you arrived.”

“Thanks,” Len said, moving towards the door that had just opened.

Amelia looked up as he came in. She stood and moved around her desk to hug him. “Len, it’s good to see you. Come in.”

“Thanks for seeing me,” Len said.

“Do you want some coffee? Tea? Something else?”

Len shook his head. “No, thanks.”

“Mind if I have one?” She asked.

“Go ahead,” Len said. And watched her fix herself an espresso.

“Well, we should get down to business. I assume Chris intimated in some way that I know some things about his career that he hasn’t been able to tell you?” Amelia asked.

“Yes. Specifically about the USS Discovery. I know that the ship was lost in 2258 in some kind of battle that was unrelated to the Klingon War. But that’s about all I know about it.”

“Did you know that Chris was the temporary captain of the ship for the months leading up to the battle?” Amelia asked.

Well, that was a surprise. Len shook his head. “I didn’t.”

Amelia explained about a Pike cousin who was on the ship and had written letters home to her mother and Amelia. Then, the story went on, and Amelia talked about the seven signals that had appeared all at once across fifty thousand light years. The Enterprise had been assigned to search for the signals but had had a catastrophic systems failure and needed to be towed back to Earth for repairs.

The powers that be had made Chris the temporary captain of the Discovery so that they could search for the signals. Apparently, Spock had a human foster sister, Michael Burnham, and she had been the science officer on the Discovery.

Then Amelia talked about what she knew about Section 31, which Len had heard of vaguely. They were supposed to be an intelligence gathering agency. Section 31 used an AI computer called Control, which was used to aid in making decisions.

Following the red signals, the Discovery encountered a hundred-thousand year old data collection sphere that had downloaded all of its data to the Discovery computer before dying. With that data, Control had a roadmap to become sentient. If that happened, all life in the galaxy would be exterminated by Control.

The information about the future was given to them by Gabriella Burnham, Michael’s mother, who was thought to be dead. She’d created a time travel suit and used it to go back and forth from the future. She’d spent years trying to fix the future.

The story became more complicated and bizarre with each event Amelia told him about. He’d known about Boreth and the time crystal that changed Chris’ life. Now, he had context for the whole story.

There was a chase across the quadrant and a final battle with Control near the planet Xahea. Where the Queen of Xahea helped them charge the time crystal for a time suit that Michael would take nine hundred years into the future, along with the Discovery, and the data. The Kelpiens and the Klingons arrived in time to help finish off Control. Most of the crew went with Michael through the wormhole, knowing it was a one-way trip.

Len also now knew there had been a coverup. No one outside a handful of people knew that the Discovery had not been destroyed. It had made it to the future with the data.

For a couple of moments, Len sat there, just letting the facts of this story settle into his mind. It was astounding that this could happen. It also explained the closeness between Chris, Spock, and Una Chin-Riley. After something like that, they were bound in their secrecy.

“Do you have any questions?” Amelia asked after a couple more minutes of quiet.

Len shook his head. “I don’t think so. It does explain a lot.” He smiled at her. “I think I’ll take the coffee now.”

“I have something stronger if you need it?” Amelia said, fixing him a cup and handing it to him.

It wasn’t bad for replicated coffee. Len drank some of it. “No. Thanks. I knew about Boreth and the time crystal.”

“Funny, I only learned that part a few weeks ago. I had no idea Chris knew what was going to happen to him,” Amelia said.

“He told me the night we met again,” Len said. “My admiration for him has no limits. He is every bit the hero he doesn’t consider himself to be.”

“I know. He’s always been the best of all of us,” Amelia said. “But there was something else you wanted to talk about?”

“I wanted to interview you about your bond. So far, all the research I’ve found is anecdotal. I will compile your comments anonymously, if you consent.”

“I do. I don’t have any problem speaking freely,” Amelia said.

“I did know that about you,” Len said. “So, to start with, how and where did you meet Grant, and when did you realize what you had with him.”

“I knew immediately. I met Grant’s eyes, and it felt like I recognized him, but I’d never met him before,” Amelia said. “Grant and I were partnered in our classes at the Police Academy. We were very compatible and spent a lot of time in those early classes smiling at each other. And talking. Honestly, we spent hours just talking.”

Len nodded. That sounded a lot like him and Chris.

“We were married within a few months. Grant is almost as empathic as I am, and it runs in his family, too.” Amelia looked down and then back at him, her gaze steady. “It was very passionate. Every time we touched each other, it was a fight not to end up in bed.”

Len laughed. “Yeah. That would be Chris and me, too. As you’ve seen, we kiss all the time. In public, in private, all the damned time.”

“I don’t think it will ever change,” Amelia said. “And I can see you love it as much as he does.”

“I adore everything about Chris. Even when he drives me crazy by making unilateral decisions for both of us or worse, ignoring the pain he’s in, which admittedly is a lot less these days.”

Amelia smiled at his comment. “I suspect that it will always be that way. What other questions do you have for me?”

“How did children change your bond? Anything else you want to tell me about it and how you dealt with it,” Len said.

Amelia nodded. “I had my son within the first year and my daughter eighteen months later. It should have changed things, but our bond never allowed that. My pregnancy with Emma was problematic, and unfortunately, I couldn’t have any more after that.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been hard.”

“I had two healthy children, so I tried hard not to complain,” Amelia said. “Later, I added Chris to the family as a young adult after everything that happened with his parents. And then, when I thought I was too old for more children, the twins needed a family.”

“Are both of your older children empathic?” Len asked.

“Yes,” Amelia said. “I’m not going to go into the details of that, though. You can interview them if you’d like.”

“Fair enough,” Len said. “So, one more question, do you feel your empathy has strengthened over time?”

She nodded. “Do you remember when we touched, and your emotions brushed mine?”

“Yes. That was the first time it happened to me,” Len said.

“Well, it’s happened to me quite a few times since I met Grant. Not much these days, but it isn’t just knowing what you were feeling. I knew what you were thinking as well.”

“So, bordering on telepathy, or maybe a touch telepath, like Vulcans?” Len hypothesized.

“I expect it is something like that. I haven’t mentioned it to anyone other than Grant. He’s on a par with me empathically, but he’d never strayed into telepathy,” she said. “I reached out to some contacts I had on Vulcan about it, and they were helpful to me.”

“I’ve had that happen to me a few times since then. And it’s becoming more frequent,” Len said. “I’d like to figure it out. If it gets any stronger, I will need some training to control it.”

“I can give you the contact information for someone on Vulcan, though you may have your own contacts there.”

“I do, thank you. I’m sure Chris can help me with that as well,” Len said and stood. “I’ve taken enough of your time.” He picked up his padd and pressed send. “I just sent you a questionnaire. If you send it back through the server I’ve listed, it will be completely anonymous.”

“Can I send it out to other people as well?” Amelia asked.

That would be great of her and would help push the survey further afield. Len wanted as many different responses as he could get with this. “Sure. Who were you thinking of sending it to?”

“The San Francisco Police Department. They know and trust me. I’ve already got a documented bond with Grant. I can also send it out to everyone in the Pike family. I’ll make sure it is voluntary for both. But I bet you’d get at least some responses. Maybe give them a time limit?”

He thought she might send it to some family members she knew, but this was more than he’d hoped for. If even a fraction of the people she mentioned responded, that would give him so much more statistical data. It might be enough to provide him with a broad enough sample to make some predictions. “Add P1 to the Pike Family at the top and P2 for the SF Police, so I can keep the two groups separate. Thank you so much, Amelia. That would be wonderful.”

She hugged him. “We’ll see you both for dinner next week.”

*****

Two weeks later

Jon and Len settled into a booth at Kelso’s. It was early evening. Chris was at some kind of meeting, and Len had no idea what it was. Maybe about the budget. Since he and Jon had talked about getting together to discuss the bond survey and setting up some parameters for the research, it seemed like a good time.

They ordered cheeseburgers and beers. “How is life treating you,” Len asked, smiling. “Did you quit your job?”

Jon laughed. “I did. I told you when I left your house last week that I was going to do that. I just couldn’t go back to working at that pace. I cleaned out my apartment so I can use it, and I will find something else to do. I want to travel, but I can’t work those kinds of hours. I’m just not that young anymore.”

“I understand that,” Len said, clicking his beer bottle against Jon’s. “So, I talked to Amelia and gave her the first of the surveys. She sent it out to everyone in the Pike family and then SFPD. And somehow, it went out planet-wide to all the police departments on Earth.”

“Yeah, she’s got some reach,” Jon said, sounding impressed.

God knows Len was damned impressed with her reach. “I put a proposal together requesting that Starfleet send it out to everyone stationed on Earth, including cadets. But the Police and the Pikes are returning the survey very quickly. It’s anonymized, so I can only tell if it came from a Pike or one of the Police Departments.”

“How many have you gotten back?”

“More than I was expecting. A couple of hundred as of the end of last week. It’s probably much more now. I need to give it time and not start looking at the data too soon,” Len said. “I’ve put together some antidotal data. Empathic bonds run in my family. And because your family is also empathic, that’s why my bond with Chris is so strong. It’s enhanced his empathy.”

Jon looked surprised to hear the last part of that. “And yours?”

“I think mine might be getting close to telepathy,” Len said and sighed. “Sometimes I will touch someone and get flashes of what they are thinking and feeling. It’s disconcerting.”

“I can only imagine,” Jon said thoughtfully. “It’s not an issue now, of course, but I wonder how it would manifest in me. I’m much more powerful than I’ve ever let anyone know.”

“I wish I could reassure you, but I don’t know,” Len said. “I wanted to tell you about the research that I will be doing and ask if you wanted to help.”

“Sure. I will be here for a while as I look for my next job,” Jon said. “I’m not even sure what I want to do except go off-world.”

“Why don’t you just travel for a while. Or maybe take a job on a ship? Doesn’t have to be Starfleet,” Len suggested.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Jon said. “I don’t know if William mentioned it, but I’ve been seeing him professionally.”

“No. And he wouldn’t. I think Chris still sees him,” Len said, but he wasn’t sure because Chris hadn’t mentioned anything lately. “But I don’t ask about it, either. If Chris has something to tell me, he will. How did you end up with Billy…William, anyway?”

“It makes sense,” Jon said. “Chris got me the name of someone from William, and then I commed him when that person did not turn out to be someone I wanted to talk to.”

“Did he give you someone else?”

“I convinced him that he should work with me since we’d only spoken briefly at the wedding. I suspect I’m like Chris because I needed someone I could trust. And if Chris trusts him, then I could too.”

Len laughed. “You are so like Chris.”

Jon shrugged again. “Well, you know, brothers.”

*****

A week later

Chris leaned on the railing of the rooftop deck of Beth and William’s new house in Berkley. William had taken a job with Starfleet Psychiatric. And they had all moved here about a month ago. He and William hadn’t had a session since he’d moved here, and what they’d been doing for weeks before that couldn’t be called more than talking about things.

The view was fantastic. Chris wondered if he should put a deck up on his own roof. It would be nice to sit out on it and have a drink with Len at the end of the day. He had a nice view of the bay.

Beth and William had started inviting everyone in their extended family for a late lunch on Sundays. In a short time, it had become popular with everyone. Chris’ immediate family had also been invited. It made sure they all saw each other often. Even Len’s mom and Kate had promised to come out once a month.

“Chris,” William said, leaning on the rail beside him. “I was looking for you.”

“Magnificent view,” Chris said. “Whenever I come over, I have to come up to take a look. It’s so relaxing. I was thinking I should have a deck on my roof.”

“You’d probably need permission from the neighborhood preservation committee for something like that. Those old houses in the city come with all kinds of rules.”

“The thing about that is that my family has owned that house for longer than the neighborhood committee has existed. I think I’d be grandfathered in.” But Chris needed to look into that.

“I don’t think it works that way.” William laughed. “You and I need to talk.”

“Yeah. I know what you’re going to say, and I agree,” Chris said. “It’s time to stop. Actually, we’ve already stopped when you moved here.”

“That’s true. How do you feel about that?” William asked.

Chris shrugged. “Willa is still an issue. But I’ve got Len to talk to about that, and you, too. Beyond that, I think I’m good. Since I started with you again, I have made so much progress physically.”

“You really have. It’s great that you’re not in so much pain anymore,” William said.

“I think, going forward, we’re going to be friends,” Chris said.

“I thought we already were,” William said. “Though as family, you should call me Billy-Ray.”

Chris laughed. “I have been thinking about that, too. It would be a good way to draw the line.”

“I have to say that I’ve never had someone go from calling me William to calling me Billy-Ray.”

“We’ve never had a strict patient-doctor relationship, even the first time you worked with me,” Chris said. “Thank you for everything.” Chris looked up as Len came up onto the deck.

“I was wondering where you two went off to,” Len said, kissing Chris quickly. “I could have guessed you’d be up here.” He looked between them. “Everything good?”

“Yes. Billy-Ray and I were just talking,” Chris said.

“You should both come downstairs,” Len said. “Beth is about to serve lunch.”

William nodded and went towards the stairs. Len leaned in and kissed Chris again, and it held for a second or two. “Billy-Ray?” Len asked.

“Yes. Family and all.”

*****

Chapter Fifteen – Epilogue

A week later

Chris was working in his office, and the door opened. He looked up to see Len coming in. “How are you doing?” he asked, sensing an unease in Len.

“Fine,” Len said, coming around his desk to lean on the front edge beside his chair. “I just heard that the Enterprise was going back out next week. They finally got her fixed almost two months after they said they would. Jim is so relieved that it’s palpable. I’ve had all my stuff transferred to our house.”

Chris stood and leaned over to kiss him. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. I’m so glad to have you in my life.” He stood and embraced Chris completely. “I would not trade this or you for anything.”

Chris kissed him again, stepping closer. “Do you want to go to the launch?”

“Are you going?”

“I haven’t been asked, but we could just go up and watch.”

“I’d like to see her off,” Len said, tightening his arms around Chris and he leaned against him. “I’m going to ask Jim to come by and have dinner later this week.”

“Do you want me to make dinner for him? I was thinking about asking Spock over as well. It will be a while before we see either of them again.” Chris ran a hand up and down Len’s back.

“He does enjoy your cooking. I’m going to miss both of them,” Len said, kissing him again and stepping back to lean on the desk again. “But there’s work to be done here.”

“How is it going?” The project had been approved, and Len had sent out the first of the questionnaires to the Earth-based fleet a couple of weeks ago. There were a couple of options for people if they were willing to be interviewed.

“The response has been very promising,” Len said, smiling. “I didn’t expect half of this response. Several people have sent it to their families or clans.”

“It seems like people are desperate for information. And the fear of discovery has held people back from talking about it. Getting it out there, with a reputable person leading the study, reassures people they won’t be tracked down and experimented on,” Chris said.

“That is true. But I’m going to venture a guess that a decent percentage of the population has some degree of dynamic empathy.”

“What is dynamic empathy?” Chris asked. “Is it different from what we know?”

“From what I’m seeing, it’s active empathy,” Len said. “They can sense some amount of emotion from people around them. And probably more from people close to them.”

“Wow,” Chris said, surprised. “So, if that’s active, is there passive empathy?”

“Some people have a small amount of empathy, but their children seem to have a more dynamic empathy. There’s an exponential jump in the child’s empathy when at least one parent has powerful empathy or if it’s on both sides of the family.”

“That might explain me and Jon,” Chris said. “Given how powerful Charles apparently is.”

“It looks like it. And I had two powerful parents, with it on both sides of their families. I think that is rarer, and it also explains why I am bordering on telepathy, especially with you,” Len said, looking down.

“I did notice that. I wonder if that has an effect on me, too.”

“From what I’ve seen, I think it does or will. But it’s still preliminary now. So, I’ll know more in a few months. And it will take at least a couple of years to really figure this out completely,” Len said. “And almost everyone who responded had some measure of it.”

“Everyone?” Because that was statistically insane.

“Just about. So, we need to see the total number of responses and the percentage of the population they are.”

“What about the bonding?” Chris asked. This was important to them, personally.

“Yeah, about that. I can make a few guesses. As everyone has said, every bond seems to manifest differently. I think between you and me, the power of our empathy connected and resonated. That was our initial attraction, and I don’t think I have to tell you how powerful that was. I also think it probably related to where we both were mentally and where you were physically.”

Chris had no idea what he meant by that. “Are you saying that if I had been in a different place mentally or physically, we might not have responded the way we did to each other.”

“I think the attraction was always going to be there,” Len said. “There would always have been a bond between us. We’re too compatible for there not to be.”

“So, where were you mentally that you responded to me as you did?” Chris asked, curious. This was something else they hadn’t ever talked about.

“As much as I would have stayed on the Enterprise to finish the five-year mission, I was not planning to stay beyond that,” Len said thoughtfully. “I’ve never been entirely comfortable in space. And the constant danger and darkness were starting to wear on me.”

Chris wasn’t surprised by the admission. “You’ve never said that outright like that, but I’ve always known that about you. I guess that must be part of this as well.”

“I’m assuming that it is,” Len said. “When I met you, I was looking for something. I needed to help you as much as you needed it done. It satisfied something in me. I know that you struggled with your independence after the accident, and it pushed you hard. So hard, I think you were always on the verge of a major setback. But after you and I got involved, that helped to even things out.”

They’d only spoken about his early recovery once, and Chris was surprised that Len understood what he’d been dealing with so thoroughly. “So, the bond might actually be sentient between us. Because how else could it know that we would need or want those things? And what about that whole kissing like sex-crazed teenaged boys we’ve got going on?”

“I think your physical condition at the time also played a part in that. We needed a way to express our passion for each other, so that was how the bond manifested. A lot of kissing and playing around, reveling in each other,” Len said with a fond smile. “As you’ve gotten stronger physically, I’ve stopped having to worry about inadvertently hurting you.”

“Do you think that the outcome might have been different if we had met at another time?” Chris asked.

“I think it’s possible. On a personal level, I don’t care that much about the why of it. I’m deeply grateful that I have you in my life as both my lover and husband.” Len took a breath. “I think we were supposed to be together as we are. We could have been something else, but I don’t think it should have been that way.”

Chris agreed and was damned grateful as well for everything that happened to bring him to this point with Len.

“On a professional level,” Len continued. “This information will change everything we thought we knew about empathy and bonding. I can’t wait to start working on the data. It’s very exciting.” Len grinned, and Chris could feel the delight in him.

*****

That weekend

What started out as dinner for Jim and Spock ended up being a going away party for their friends on the Enterprise, and that had expanded to include Una Chin-Riley as well since she knew most of those invited.

And apparently, Chris liked nothing better than cooking for a party. Len watched indulgently as Chris made trays of appetizers and some kind of Orion cocktail.

“Are you sure that’s safe to drink?” Len asked, watching Chris put more liquor into the punch bowl.

“Yes, it’s a modified Orion Hurricane,” Chris said with a laugh and leaned in to kiss him. “You do not want to make it with Orion delaq. It’s a hallucinogen.”

“Good to know,” Len said, and the doorbell chimed. He headed towards the door, and Chris went back into the kitchen.

Joseph M’Benga came in.

“We haven’t met before, Dr. M’Benga,” Len said, holding out his hand.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Doctor McCoy…” M’Benga laughed. “Pike-McCoy.”

Len laughed, too, and led him into the living room. “Let’s just go with Len. I’m grateful to you for taking my place on the Enterprise.”

“Joseph. And truthfully, I’m pleased to have the chance to return to her,” M’Benga said, reaching for one of the Vulcan appetizers Chris had put together.

“I guess it worked out for both of us.” For which Len was pleased. “I’m sure you’re going to be what the crew needs.”

“I hope so,” M’Benga said. “This is delicious, Chris is such an amazing cook.”

“Oh, I know that only too well,” Len agreed, and the door chimed again. “Excuse me.”

And then a stream of other people showed up.

After a couple of hours of small talk, Len eased into the study for a moment of quiet and found Spock there as well. That was good. “Spock,” Len said. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Of course, Doctor,” Spock said, turning from the bookcase he was inspecting to look at Len.

“I just wanted to say thank you and ask a favor,” Len said, clearing his throat.

“What have I done to require your thanks?” Spock asked in that solemn tone he had.

“By asking me to save Chris, you started all of this.” Len waved his hand around the room. “I can’t begin to tell you what he means to me.”

“I am aware of what he means to you. And what you mean to him. I am truly gratified to have had a small part in bringing you together. I believe you and he to be very well suited.”

Well, that was true. Len nodded. “The second thing I wanted to ask was for you to look after Jim for me.”

For one second, Spock looked startled. “I am not sure what you are asking me.”

Len sighed. Trust Spock to be difficult. “He talks to me a lot about things that happen out there, and well, I am not going to be there anymore.”

“If he were to ask me, I would listen to what he wished to talk about,” Spock said.

“I think you’re going to have to do the asking. Maybe play chess with him more. Or seek him out,” Len suggested. “It’s hard being the captain with no one to talk to.” Len had thought that was why Jim had asked him to become CMO in the first place.

“I am his subordinate. It is not my place to do that.” But Spock looked thoughtful.

“I was too. You’re Jim’s first officer. That will make it your place,” Len said. “I just want to make sure he’s going to be okay without me.”

“I am sure he will be,” Spock said quietly. “I will attempt to do as you have asked.”

“Thank you,” Len said. He wished he could push it further and maybe suggest there was more between the two of them than either of them wanted to admit. But that might be a bridge too far for Spock. Or Jim, for that matter. Maybe if Spock tried to talk with Jim, they would see what was between them. Len hoped so anyway.

“You are welcome,” Spock said. “I will miss our discussions.”

Len laughed. “Is that what we’re calling them?”

“I believe they were informative for both of us. And I could tell that you found them amusing.”

“I did. I’ll miss you too, Spock. And the rest of the crew.” It was actually harder to say goodbye than he’d thought it would be.

“Perhaps we should return to the party.”

Len sighed. “Yes. I guess we should.”

*****

 

A week later

“You know, my love,” Chris said, standing with Len on the observation deck of the space dock, watching The Enterprise maneuver out of the space dock. “This is where we came in.”

Len laughed. “Can you believe it was only a little more than five months ago?”

“So much has happened,” Chris agreed.

They watched in silence as The Enterprise went to warp and was gone.

“Are you okay?” Chris asked.

“I’m fine. I’ve noticed your overall fitness has improved. Yoga, PT, and strength training are all doing you a world of good,” Len said.

Chris could tell that, too. Every day, he got a little better, and now he was starting to feel like he had before the accident. “I’m up to normal weight, and I am beginning to have more days without pain than with it. I’ll be ready to go to Xahea in another month or two.”

“We should go home and celebrate all of that,” Len said, glancing around and then putting a hand on the back of his neck to nudge him into a quick kiss.

“Absolutely,” Chris said, smiling. He held his hand out for Len to precede him.

–finis

12/2022 — 4/2024

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