DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek characters are the property of Paramount Studios, Inc. The story contents are the creation and property of Johanna Cantor and is copyright (c) 1976 by Johanna Cantor. This story is Rated NC-17. Originally printed in Grup #5.

HOME LEAVE

by Johanna Cantor

Kirk took the batch of memos from the new yeoman with a smile that made her day. The top few were routine and he initialed them casually. When he came to the daily batch from his first office, he slowed down and began to read with care. Even so, he was partway through the first one before he really gathered its purport. Spock was requesting leave on his home planet. The Enterprise, he pointed out, would rendezvous with the Einstein in two days. Spock wanted to transfer then, as the Einstein could take him to the Intrepid II, which would get him to Vulcan a day later. Kirk frowned. Why the elaborate procedure? When she returned from Xalia, the Enterprise herself would be passing close enough to Vulcan to take Spock there. Furthermore, Spock knew damn well Xalia was going to be tricky. He had not requested home leave during a mission since--"

"God Almighty !" Kirk was out of his chair on the words. Designating Makabe to take the command, he dived for the turbo-lift. It was the end of the third period, he calculated rapidly. Spock should be just finishing the training seminar for the new lab personnel. Entering the briefing room, he watched carefully as Spock dealt with a question. The first officer seemed quite well. Kirk heaved a sigh of relief and waited for the end before he spoke. "Mr. Spock, may I see you in my quarters?" Spock nodded, and followed him to the lift.

They were silent until they entered Kirk's workroom. Then Spock spoke immediately. "Jim, I apologize. I should have realized my request would alarm you."

Kirk nodded. "It's seven years, isn't it?"

"Yes. "

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, Jim. Quite all right. The process has not started. I do not expect it for some weeks yet."

"Then why transfer? We can take you to Vulcan when we get back from Xalia."

"Partly a safety margin. If we should be delayed at Xalia or receive new orders there, the situation could become awkward. Partly because I mus t make arrangements."

Kirk waited hopefully, intensely curious. Spock gave him a somewhat quizzical look and the captain blushed, realizing he had thrown every signal short of pricking up his ears. "It's really none of my business," he apologized.

"It is natural you should be curious." Nevertheless. Spock hesitated. "You have never seen a mating. Did you read the description the Vulcan Academy published three years ago?"

Kirk nodded.

"Then you know that after the gonadal system has enlarged, there is surge after surge of sexual activity. In ancient times, when Vulcans lived polygamously, it was the custom for the male to mate in succession with each of his concubines early in the process, since ovulation is triggered by the intercourse of a bonded pair." Kirk waited. wondering what Spock's point was.

"Sarek's teacher., T''In, is the head of a small but distinguished house which has met with great misfortune. Her only son and his son died on the Intrepid, leaving no children. Only their widows, T'Lin and T'Ria, survive. Her daughter's daughter, T'Pan, was bonded to Scar, who was killed in a hunting accident last year. Unless something is done, the house must perish with this generation.

"It is possible, in Vulcan law, to re-establish a family in such circumstances if an unbonded male can be found willing to impregnate the women without claiming the issue. Sarek has proposed that I volunteer for this service. It seems logical."

"It sounds grim," Kirk said. "For you, I mean."

"I do not expect it to be pleasant. I would not expect that in any case."

"But--"

"The arrangement has advantages for me also. Jim, I know no one to whom I wish to be bonded. And if I should father a child who would be under my care, I would find it difficult to remain in space. This way, I can do what I must without parental entanglement."

"It does sound logical," Kirk agreed. Spock was silent. Kirk let his imagination wander for a moment, recalling the publication of the Vulcan Academy. He remembered the diagrams showing the enlargement of the gonadal system from two tiny ducts neatly tucked along the spine to an area filling a fourth or more of the body cavity, pressing on the organs, nearly crushing the stomach... He began to feel queasy himself and returned hastily to the present. "It's rough on you, Spock. I'm sorry."

"It's part of being Vulcan. I will survive it. And this time, Sarek will be there."

"You'll mate with three women?"

"Four. T'In adopted one of the Romulan hostages some years ago. The girl is unbonded and she volunteered to try to conceive a child."

"Why all of them?"

"Because I myself am a hybrid. I may be unable to impregnate any of them. It seems best, under the circumstances, to seize every opportunity."

"Logical. As always, Mr. Spock. Leave is granted. Take care of yourself."

"Thank you, Captain."

* * *

Only Sarek met Spock at the terminal. Spock bowed formally and followed his father to the aircar in silence. There they embraced ritually.

"My mother did not come?"

"She is waiting at home. She is agitated. and wished not to betray this in public."

"Because of me?"

"The arrangement with T'In worries her."

"She disapproves?"

"She understands the logic. But she is concerned about your well being." Spock nodded, his throat constricting. Sarek studied him, then set the controls on automatic and reached for his son's temple. He guided him into restful meditation, and maintained contact until they reached home.

"Thank you, Father," Spock said and walked calmly in to comfort his mother.

The next day he went alone to T'In's compound. He had grown up knowing the women, of course, but it was imperative to be absolutely certain that they, too, agreed to this arrangement. He soon found that there was no doubt. Like himself, they were apprehensive about the mating, but they were determined to re-establish the house. The interview was embarrassing, but conclusive. Final arrangements were made and he left, reassured.

Then to get it over with, he paid his duty visit to T' Pau .This time he asked Sarek to accompany him. He knew, without having discussed it, how displeased she must be. Sarek presented Spock's formal plea for forgiveness, and to their relief, the formidable matriarch yielded without argument, only remarking tartly that she hoped Spock would some day devote his talents to his own house.

Now he began a pleasant routine, visiting old friends, holding long conversations with his parents, riding and hunting. Such leisure was rare, and enjoyable. He found his curiosity almost whetted by a research project Sarek described to him, but for several days he put off going down to the lab because T'Pan was head of the biology section there. Finally he went anyway , and got into a debate with T'Pan and the lab's virologist, an Earthman named Rinaldi, which was not resolved until long after dusk as they ate at one of the city's many excellent dome restaurants.

"I think you've got it, Spock," Rinaldi was saying excitedly. "I'm going right now to check this by computer. Coming, T'Pan?"

"Why don't you call it in from downstairs. Tony?"

"Okay." He was off.

The constraint between them had vanished in the excitement of the debate. Now, with nothing to do but wait for the computer check, Spock found himself quite curious about the woman next to him. She had a Vulcan woman's gentle calm, but she smiled. and once even laughed in human fashion. Yet, he sensed that her reactions to Rinaldi paralleled his. Certainly she was amused by the human's impulsivity.

"T'Pan," he asked. "Why do you smile?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

"It is not our way."

"No. But I have worked among humans so long. I trained on Capella IV, you know. And all this year I have been working closely with Tony. It rubs off."

"Yes. I know."

A message was delivered. "Rinaldi says the computer confirms."

"Let's go!"

As the days passed. Spock joined Rinaldi and T'Pan in their work. The answer to a key point 1oomed tantalizingly near. Often he almost forgot why he had come home. But more and more, he began to seek T'Pan's company. Brilliant in her own field, she was also a dedicated amateur musician and in fact had helped Amanda transcribe the modes discovered in the T'Anan Ruins. She lacked his divided nature, but she had lived with humans enough to see the world much as he did. Soon they were spending every waking moment together.

When the process began, Spock retreated to the house where he could still regain his calm under Sarek's guidance. Understanding, T'Pan began to visit him there, reporting on each day's progress. She showed no impatience with his occasional outbursts, and her tranquil acceptance of his condition helped him accept what was happening to him. Her visits became the most comfortable hours in the difficult days that followed.

Late one afternoon, he sensed her studying him. He tried not to react, but could not help shifting under her gaze. Suddenly he felt a dizziness he could not blink back. She moved to steady him and reached behind him. There was no doubt.

"Spock," she said abruptly, "have you ever mated?"

"No. You know what happened be fore?"

"Yes."

"Well, when I thought I had killed my captain, the process was arrested."

"I see. Spock, there is something I want you to know. Could we go outside? Do you feel well enough?"

"Certainly. We can walk in the grounds."

T'Pan waited until they were well away from the house, then spoke without preamble. "I have had intercourse with Tony often, almost since we began working together."

"Why?" he asked in surprise.

"It helps him to function."

"T'Pan, are you fond of him?"

As soon as he had spoken, he realized that the question was an unpardonable breach of etiquette, but she said simply, "Yes."

"Would you prefer not to mate with me?"

"No, if you are willing. I want a child. But I wanted to tell you before you melded with me, in case you should be unwilling."

"No, T'Pan. I have come to feel in these last days that I would some day ask you to join with me. But I have pledged my word to T'In."

"Yes. I too."

He swayed and she reached an arm around him to steady him and pulled him close. She sensed his tormenting tension and murmured. "I wish I were first."

"I am glad you will not be!"

She understood. They stood together for a long time, watching the sunset. Then Spock pulled himself together and formally asked her to drive him to T'In's compound. There he bonded with the three Vulcan women so his gonadal activity would trigger theirs, and told the Romulan girl it was time to go to the lab for the induction of ovulation. It would not be long now.

* * *

Spock stood on the balcony outside his room gripping the railing. He whirled at the sound of Sarek's step and agitatedly begged pardon. Sarek nodded calmly, took his son's arm and forced him to lie down. Then .he took a tricorder scan and administered an injection. He watched until the drug took effect, then covered his son and pulled up a chair. Twice during the long night he repeated the dose. At dawn he checked again and began to gather a large desert kit. Spock groaned and struggled to sit up. Sarek was by his side instantly. "Breathe deeply through your mouth, my son," he ordered. When Spock was calmer, he said. "Do you want to stay here? Or do you want the mating place?"

Spock shuddered but the call of the blood was strong. "The mating place." Sarek nodded, unsurprised, and gave Spock the desert kit. Then he carefully helped him to stand and guided him to the aircar.

There was no ceremony. Spock had already formally waived claim to any issue of this mating. As ancient custom dictated, the first to face him was T'Lin, T'In's daughter-in-law, a woman as old as his father. She faced him determinedly and touched fingers to renew the meld. Spock' s tension was unbearable. He fled, leaving a creature of that name standing rigid on the sand. T'Lin stripped and lay down, and at the sight of a naked woman in the ancient mating place, Spock gave a shuddering cry and dropped to his knees. The tension localized and embarrassment ceased. He would do anything he had to do for relief. He entered her and the world began to whirl around him. He thrust instinctively and she matched his movement, reaching behind him to stroke his back from small to groin. Spock heard a moaning sound like an animal in fear, his eyes rolled upward, and awareness ceased.

When Spook came to himself, he was lying limply across the woman, bathed in sweat. His thighs were sticky and his pulse still pounded. Someone took his shoulders and began to lift him off the passive woman. but at that moment another surge began. He growled and began to thrust again. The person persisted. Spock had just enough awareness to realize that it was Sarek who wished him to withdraw and he forced himself to comply. Sarek steadied him as he rose to his knees and motioned to T'Ria. She came over immediately ,but Spock could stand no more. He grabbed her as she knelt in front of him, pushed her down in the mating place, and entered her savagely, already thrusting. Almost immediately he growled again as the seed ripped from his vitals.

But after a few moment's rest he felt better. He became aware of T'Ria and touched her temple in apology. She comforted him, cradling his head. When he began to move again, she reciprocated. But suddenly the memory of her dead husband intruded and she pushed at Spock' s hips. He sensed her thoughts but the pressure of her hands sharpened his need unbearably. He forced her down and began to thrust again, once more in the full grip of the blood fever. T'Ria understood and she moved with him to help him release. But to Spock, rising to his knees afterward, what he had done seemed like sheer rape. Sarek consoled him but Spock groaned, knowing that he was still helpless to resist the pressures.

But now he was taken from Sarek and his head was drawn to a softer breast. "Rest, dear friend," T'Pan whispered. She lay down in the mating place and pulled him on top if her, soothing and comforting him. Spock rested in her embrace. There was more time now, and he felt better. She rubbed his neck until his breath came easily, then placed her fingers precisely on his temple and jaw. Strengthening the meld, she explored gently. Skillfully, she linked the savage memory to a phrase from the Consolations of Szurak, and communicated peace.

Spock touched her cheek in gratitude, but moaned in despair as another surge of pressure made him writhe. Quickly T'Pan opened her legs. "Come, Spock, I want you," she whispered. Surprised, Spock entered her, and she gave a pleasurable wriggle. Spock moved inside her luxuriously, reassured by the knowledge of her experience. Under her guidance, he moved rhythmically and she reached down and ringed his penis with her thumb and forefinger. He gasped at the sensation. "Oh, is it so?" she teased, and laughed tenderly as he quivered in response. His movements grew more urgent, and she began to whisper the pounding rhythms of the Song of T'A. "Feel my soft breast, supporting your head; it was formed to hold you. Feel my smooth belly; it was formed to move under yours. Feel my deft hands; they were formed to stroke you. Feel inside me; there is a close-formed space. No man has ever reached it. Seek. Probe. Search. Thrust..."

Spock kept pace with the ever-quickening rhythm until she released his penis and reached to draw her nails between his buttocks, raking the sperm duct. The pressure turned to fire, and he buried his head between her breasts to stifle his cry as his whole being contracted and climaxed.

"T'Pan, by my grandmother's beard!" he gasped. She laughed and reached to nuzzle his ear, and at her caress he arched his back again, and this time all the tension that had tormented him for so long drained out as he released. Panting, he lay still, content on an island of quiet in the spinning world.

After a while he withdrew and turned over. T'Pan put her hand on his chest and he pulled her over him, embracing her comfortably. Her hair smelled sweet and he lay still, supremely content, thinking how good it was to lie on the warm sand and smell a woman, until a new surge made him stir. T'Pan felt the stir and rolled away. "My foster sister," she said. "It is her turn."

Spock's warm happiness shriveled, leaving cold lumps in his throat and belly. Stoically he sat up, gathering his fortitude. One more duty remained. Sarek knelt beside him, but Spock remained rigid. "Please have the farinotol ready," he said formally.

"Spock, I think it is too soon to stop the process."

"Let us try."

The Romulan girl was ready now, facing him resolutely. Spock saw and respected her courage. "I will be quick," he promised. She nodded and he positioned himself and thrust. As he worked, he reviewed the ovulation schedule she had calculated; it was a relief to think of something other than what he was doing. Soon he could no longer ignore the pressure. He carried on grimly, sure that he was hurting her, and knowing that when the release came it would hurt him. But then he would be finished. He gritted his teeth against the pain of the contraction in his tense body, then withdrew immediately and sat up, hugging his knees and trying to control a shudder. The girl got up and walked over to the other women. Sarek sighed and inserted the vial in his hypo.

T'Pan looked across at Spock. It could probably end here. With sudden determination, she walked over to him and knelt beside him. Spock heard her come over but did not look up. Then to his surprise, he was again taken in soft arms. His head was pressed firmly against a familiar shoulder. "Thank you, my friend," T'Pan whispered. "She wants a child so much."

Spock's misery lightened and he looked up. They embraced. After a few moments he reached down and began to stroke her belly lightly from navel to crotch. She gasped and squirmed. "Oh, is it so?" Spock teased.

Behind him, unperceived, Sarek removed the vial from his hypo and uncapped it. The drug dripped out and was quickly absorbed in the hot sand. He looked at T'In and the three women. It was time to get them home. He touched his son's shoulder and Spock jumped. "Forgive me, my son. I wanted to let you know we are starting back now."

"T'Pan and I will remain for a while."

Sarek nodded and held out his palms for an embrace.

Spock waited until he could no longer hear their footsteps. Then he deepened the meld and began to caress T'Pan with lips and tongue. He felt her quicken and a sense of power and competence began to possess him. T'Pan gasped and begged pardon, embarrassed by the intensity of her response. "I have never experienced this," she explained apologetically.

"Of course," Spock teased her. "No man has ever reached the close-formed space before."

She laughed and reached for him and he entered her eagerly. But inexperience, combined with the still early state of mating fever, betrayed him; he climaxed before she could. Tenderly, T'Pan soothed his agitation "There is time," she whispered. "There is time and enough."

He stroked her until he felt the stirrings in his back again. This time they were welcome assurance that he could satisfy her. He tuned in carefully, to sense what she wanted.

"Spock!" Her whisper was harsh. "Come where you belong." She opened her body to him. He obeyed, but this time he moved in her slowly, deeply, waiting for the response he knew was near. She writhed and cried out, and he reached to massage her until the telepathic link transmitted a deep contentment that even his own need clawing at his conscious could not disturb.

"Spock!" She whispered imperatively. She wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him as though to bond them in body, too. "Spock! Now!" He understood, thrilling with gratitude. Her contentment would not be complete until he was satisfied. For a moment longer he held back, tantalizing them both and glorying in the ability to control. Then he arched his back and thrust. They cried out together.

The sun set in the orange sky. The couple unearthed a large cloak and a ward fence from Sarek's kit. Neither spoke; there was no need. Wrapped in the cloak, they waited contentedly.

Spock looked up and lazily located Barnard's Star. The Enterprise would be on its way back from Xalia soon He turned and sought in the dark and the couple toyed with each other for a long, happy time. Then he was moving inside her again, feeling her pleasure match and deepen his. When the Enterprise returned, he would rejoin her. But now, in the close-formed space, he was home.

THE END