Captain Kirk had been the one to request that the ceremony take place upon the asteroid at the monestary. The Vulcans agreed and allowed the crew of the Enterprise not only to perform the ceremony within their temple, but also to use the courtyard for a reception. None of them understood just why a reception was needed, but they understood it was a human tradition and as the bride was a full human, it was only logical to incorporate some earth traditions into the union.

The Vulcan monks stood by uninterferring with the process. Their curiosity compelled them to stay and learn, to accept and to be one of the first to witness such an extraordinary coupling. As it was rare for the two species to genetically mix, there was question whether the new union could create progeny. It was possible, as the proof stood before them, a full adult in Starfleet. It gave them hope for the continual of their race for part Vulcan was surely better than none.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife." Kirk finished with a giant grin upon his face. Bones had fixed him up, and though the book in his hands seemed a little heavy, Kirk wasn't going to show any discomfort in front of the crewmembers who had shuttled down to the asteroid's surface, and certainly not in front of Spock and Uhura. He was about to say the last line when one of the monks stepped forward.

"If I may." Kirk nodded to the monk and took a step back as the monk stood before the nearly wedded pair. He placed one hand upon Uhura's face, a finger at her temple, her cheekbone, and a thumb beside her mouth. He did the same with the other hand with Spock. He then closed his eyes and the pair would feel the telepathic link being formed, one that would have been established at age seven, but now was fully established so that they may truly be a bonded pair, despite that the bride was human. Though she may not possess the telepathic abilities of a Vulcan, Uhura would now be able to feel Spock's presence wherever he was. She would be able to feel the next time he went into Pon Farr and search him out. She would be a part of him as much as he was a part of her. Always touching, even if untouched. Never parted no matter how many light years away. The monk opened his eyes once the connection was created and he stepped back silently to allow Kirk to continue.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Kirk said joyously, only to get an eyebrow arch and a head tilt from his first officer. Such public affection was frowned upon, and Kirk grinned widely before whispering, "It's Earth tradition. Go on..."

Cheers erupted among the Enterprise crew as the half Vulcan groom drew his bride into an embrace and kissed her. Uhura could hear the clapping of happy guests, though her eyes closed as she locked lips with her new husband, oblivious to the smiling faces of their fellow crewmates. When the kiss ended, Kirk yelled out in triumph. "I now present to you, Mr and Mrs. Spock!"

The crew clapped even louder and more than a few wolf whistles erupted among the crew. Uhura smiled brightly, looking every bit as dazzling and joyous as she felt. She was proud to have this moment with her family aboard the Enterprise. She also did not mind at all that her stoic groom looked out at the cheering colleagues with faint curiosity and bewilderment at to the applause. His eyebrow twitched as he felt something, a rush of emotion that didn't feel at all normal and had to be dealt with.

The reception was immediately after in the gardens of the courtyard. Scotty had brought along his own stash of alcohol for the festive occasion. It was shore leave for a few hours and that was as reason to celebrate as any. None of the humans went inside the temple, though, as to pay respects to the monestary by not desecrating it with frivolous and unrestrained human celebration. While the rest of the crew drank, visited, and partied, the newly wedded couple sneaked away to the meditation room where the monks had retreated earlier. Nyota didn't bother to hide her absolute glee at being taken away by her handsome Vulcan mate. "Now why did you bring me here?" The communications officer inquired with a bright smile and shining eyes.

"I would assess from the rising levels of hormonal activity within my psyche that the battle with the Nausicaan did not actually break plak tow, but instead merely subdued it for a time." Spock said. His voice was methodical and steady, but his eyes held something deeper. It was a hunger, a lust that Nyota had never seen before in her Vulcan lover. It was a look that made a shiver race up her spine and her chest tighten.

"Oh, well, we can't have you going off and killing anyone, so we are going to have to do something about that." Uhura shamelessly flirted with her new husband, something she'd done before, normally just to tease him, but not with the favorable reaction that she was getting now. Nyota Uhura was used to being wanted. She'd been come onto by half of the galaxy, including the captain before he'd entered Starfleet. She'd been wanted, but never craved, never needed. She'd never felt the piercing gaze of animalistic lust that was fixed upon her now. It was a possessive, voracious need for a male to claim its rightful mate.

"Indeed. We wouldn't want that." Spock then gave her a smile. It was a sardonic, wicked smile that seemed better suited to a villain in a drama, not upon the coolly steadfast Vulcan that she had grown to know so well. Uhura fixed in place as Spock closed the distance between them until she could feel his warm breath upon her lips and the heat of his body against hers. For the first time in a long time, Uhura felt nervous.

It wasn't as if they hadn't been intimate before. They certainly had, many times. Each and every time Uhura had initiated it. It had always been good, satisfying, even affectionate, but each and every time Spock always had some element of control. Never had he completely given himself to her. Every touch and every caress had been to reach a certain end as if she were an experiment and Spock was testing his theories upon her. Uhura never complained. She had accepted that this was the way that Vulcans were. They never lost control. . Sex was a biological function to produce progeny or to illustrate affection to one's mate. It was not for recreation by any means, but served a purpose as anything else. They simply were not passionate, loving, ravenous.

Uhura would soon be proven incredibly wrong.

Uhura intook a breath as Spock lowered his forehead to hers. She had learned early on that this was an incredibly affectionate act for Vulcans. It symbolized the sharing of one's mind. This time, however, they were bondmates and the gesture would take a more literal form. Spock took her hand and held up two fingers to her own two slim fingers. She immediately felt the electricity between them, a charge of white heat that flowed from their fingertips to each and every nerve ending in her body. Uhura couldn't help but bite her lower lip as he said softly and affectionately, "Touched but never touched. Parted and never parted. Two bodies, one mind, one soul."

Uhura nearly cried out as she suddenly felt the rush of emotions and thoughts that were not hers crash into her mind like an ocean wave. At first, the wave was so powerful , the emotions so strong, that she closed her eyes and her first thought was to force them out of her head. However, a soothing hand upon her cheek and the mental nudge for her to open her mind caused her to relax under the mind meld.

It was difficult to tell if exactly what she was feeling was coming from him, or if the feelings were her own. Her human mind was afraid and unable to comprehend the sheer complexity of what was happening at first, but she opened herself to the pure amazement of it. Uhura felt her very senses were heightened. Every sound was much more crisp. Every sight more detailed and every thought more profound. Every touch was so much more sensitive that she could feel her own body cry out for his and they were only touching fingertips.

They were joined in mind and heart. It was the most intimate, exciting thing that Uhura had ever felt. She wanted to find the words to tell him, to share in her experience, but she didn't have to. He was feeling everything that she was. He was hearing her every thought. She knew it because she could feel that he was pleased just as she could feel the carnal desire within him. He was on the verge, ready to break, but he was still hanging onto a thread of control. He was seeking permission and with a stroke of her fingertips down his hand and the rise of her lips to meet his, she gave him what he sought.

Spock crushed her body against his as his mouth captured hers in a ravenous kiss. He caught the gasp of surprise that escaped her mouth and her hands moved to his chest to grip at the ceremonial clothing that he wore. Without breaking the bruising kiss, Spock lifted his young human bride with relative ease and pressed her back against the stone wall of the meditation room. Uhura hooked a long, smooth leg around his hip, urging him closer. She heard a rip of fabric before she felt a large, seeking hand cup the weight of her right breast. Uhura felt the familiar but wonderful pleasure of his hand upon her flesh, but now she also felt the pleasure that he received from touching her as well. Even this sensation was multiplied tenfold by the mindmeld.

She ached to touch him, to know exactly what he felt from her touch. She wanted him to thrive upon her caresses, to need her kiss as much as she needed him right now. Within moments of thinking those very thoughts, clothing was desperately ripped, removed, and thrown to the floor as if the very garments themselves were offensive. To do so required their bodies to part for an insignificant amount of time, but even in that small moment, Uhura had felt completely bereft. The mind meld remained as long as they had any kind of skin to skin contact.

With no other hindrances to their flesh to flesh contact, Spock held no reservations about exploring her mocha colored body. Uhura tipped her head back and let out a moan of pure bliss as he had learned through his own meticulous study of her body just where she liked being touched. For instance, there was a spot just behind her ear but further down upon her neck that when his teeth grazed there made her body quiver. He knew that she'd rather have the underside of her breast caressed instead of her nipples, and he knew that she had a sensitive place along the back of her knee.

But, it worked twofold. Uhura had learned that Vulcans preferred not to be touched not because they detested touch or others, but because touch was so very sensitive to them, much more than in humans. She knew that even the slightest brush of fingertips would drive him mad with rapture. She knew that if her fingers trailed down his spine that he'd make a throaty noise that would make her skin sear with heat. She knew he'd involuntarily suck in a breath when her fingertips traced his abdominal muscles and she knew that when she lifted her hips to grind against his that she'd be favorably rewarded.

She let out a cry of both pleasure and pain as she felt his teeth against the flesh above her breast and his hands grip into her thighs. It was an unexpected move, and as Spock was three times stronger than the average human, the pain was more than a little bit distracting. Uhura was most surprised, though, to find that it didn't frighten her. He could really hurt her and it didn't frighten her at all. What she shared in his mind was carnal but not evil. It was rough but not malevolent. In fact, she was finding it actually pretty damn exciting.

Uhura wrapped her arms around his neck as shew as whirled away from the stone wall and then deposited promptly upon a mat in the room. The mat would normally be used as a comfortable place to contemplate and compartmentalize thoughts and feelings, but this time it's use was in the rampant and urgent coupling of two enraptured bondmates. Spock's head dipped downward, leaving Uhura to thurst her hands into thick, ebony hair as it settled between her aching thighs. This was one lesson that she had taught him, and had been very pleased with the results. If there was one thing she could appreciate about Vulcan learning, was that if it was worth doing, it was worth doing perfectly. As she felt the warm wetness of his tongue hit a particularly sensitive spot, Uhura's back arched and her fingers dug into his skull. A soft moan of pure pleasure escaped her, but no relief came beind it. Instead a rush of pure ecstasy enveloped her and then shook her body from its very center. She felt the withdrawal of his mouth and for a moment felt relief of an ending climax. She would not be able to bask in the afterglow of bliss long before he hovered over her, his deep brown eyes catching her own. Those eyes that looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

She knew that he found her aesthetically pleasing, but with their minds linked, this was the first time she truly felt in his own mind how beautiful he thought she was. Never before had such a thing meant so much to her, and never had there been a better way for her to discover it.

Uhura had always found him exotically attractive. Even as merely a cadet, she'd been thankful that at least if the workload of the Advanced Phonolgy class was rigorous, at least the instructor wasn't bad to look at. He always carried himself with elegance and nobility. His dark looks and easy grace only seemed to amplify that. The upswept brow gave him a devilish appearance, one that hinted at the heart of a rebel beneath the apathetic Vulcan exterior. With hard jaw, lean muscle, and long legs, Spock was an beautiful male specimen in any universe.

It was those eyes, though, that arrested her. Deep brown surrounded by thick lashes. Not quite human, not quite Vulcan. She could stare at those eyes indefinitely until the spell was broken by his forehead once again meeting hers. Simultaneously, he buried himself deep within her, finally completing their union: mind, heart, soul, and body. The sudden sensation of joined flesh illicited a quiver within both of them, and Uhura wrapped her arms around the back of her Vulcan lover to draw him ever closer. His arms hooked beneath her knees, pulling them upwards to her chest so that he could thrust deeper, harder, possessing her in every way imaginable.

Uhura's moans soon couldn't escape her opened lips. Her breathing was too ragged, she couldn't get enough air past her vocal chords. His hips pressed hers roughly to the mat. His grip upon her hips was bruising, but more than welcome. Her nails raked across his back then gripped the mat, the air, anything as she writhed and thrashed under the full intensity of their mating. Her mind spun and she heard nothing apart from her own rapid heartbeat and his own throaty cries of rapture. She felt nothing around her but her own body's response, enveloping him and drawing him deeper within her though she was beginning to feel sore and aching from each relentless plunge within her human body. Her mind reached out to his for the first time, instead of just allowing his to invade. She searched deep within the complex and large Vulcan brain to grasp onto what her subconscious was looking for.

There is was, hidden, compartmentalized, and suppressed. It was the emotion she was reaching for, one that she had been afraid to truly show herself for fear that it would never be returned. It was love. Unconditional, pure, romantic and real. Like a ghostly hand, she reached out and touched the emotion, taking it for her own. He loved her.

Was it not obvious? A thought erupted. A tear formed at the corner of closed, chocolate eyes. It should have been, but humans had to be told. They were often incapable of grasping the concept of anything that isn't literally thrown at their faces. They needed words, for if the words did not exist, then it must not be true. Uhura had never heard it, and so she thought Spock never loved her, but now that she knew, she could see it in everything that he did. Her assignment to the Farragut as to protect her reputation, never his own. The breaking down in the turbolift-a show of failure and of emotion that no one, not even his father had been allowed to see. There was the open affection at the transporter room where she saw now that he had been honestly afraid he would never see her again, though at the time he had appeared very confident that he'd return. She'd even seen in his mind the moment that Kirk had stopped him, right before Spock wanted Kirk to give a message to Uhura-to tell her how he felt and not make the same mistake with her that he had with his mother.

"Spock..." Uhura whispered, the tears streaming down her face. Again, it was not entirely her. The emotional transference was incredibly powerful. She felt her own chest tighten with emotion as she felt his. She felt her own body tremble against his already shivering frame. She didn't know where she ended and he began. "I..."

The words were cut off with a sudden shuddering climax that shocked her entire body. She felt his own control dissapate and with it came a fervor she'd never before experienced. It was as if the last bar broke and let loose the beast that was caged within. An almost animalistc growl came from within his throat and Uhura suddenly found herself grabbed around the waist and then tossed into a new position upon her knees. Shocked back into reality, Uhura's eyes widened as she braced herself against the force of his body repeatedly impaling her own. Her knees ached and she had to lower herself to her elbows when her arms started to shake under the force and strength bombarded upon her. Her breaths came out in gasps again until another orgasmic scream erupted from her lips as she convulsed around him, gripping him repeatedly and rhythmically with her pulsing climax. This time, however, she felt his own powerful release as well as the escape of all tension within his body. She felt the peace return to his mind before she felt him collapse with exhaustion to the mat beside her.

Uhura collapsed as well, her own panting matching his although now the mindmeld was broken. The sweat upon his body was hers, she knew. Uhura didn't want to lose all intimate contact with him yet. She wasn't quite ready to go back to logic and reason and complete rationality. She wanted to hang onto the uncaged, unchained, passionate and primal Spock just a little while longer. She snuggled up next to him, her arm draped over his stomach to hold him close. To do this was a struggle. Her muscles were sore, her legs had cramped under the intensity. She was so very tired and she ached in so many places. She had also loved every moment of it.

Back on the bridge after shore leave, Captain Kirk was very pleased to find his first officer at the science station as usual, actually completely cool, placid, and absolutely normal. "Hey, Spock!" The Captain greeted. "How was your honeymoon?" Kirk raised and lowered his brows, teasing his first officer and his friend. Of course he was completely baiting Spock.

"I have no comment." Spock replied dryly before adding, "Scans in sector D indicate lifeforms upon a class D planet that has been recorded as having no life."

Kirk grinned as Spock completely blew over the question, leaving Kirk to let out a little chuckle. The door opened again and Lt. Uhura walked in. She seemed to be a bit uncomfortable, as her walk indicated. Movement seemed to be forced and she leaned on her chair before sitting in it. Kirk turned to face her. "Lt. Uhura, how are you feeling this morning?"

"Never better, Captain. Scanning all sectors now, sir."

"You look a little tired. Are you sure you don't want to take a few hours off?"

Uhura flashed him a glare, but replied sweetly, "I feel wonderful, captain. I had a large breakfast of strawberry pancakes and a cup of tea. I finished a chapter of the play I've been reading which I translated from its original tongue. Would you like to know more of my morning, sir?" Uhura asked, the smile still upon her lips.

Uhura's reaction only caused Kirk to keep his grin as he turned back to the front. "Not necessary, Lieutenant. Keep all channels open. We have a planet to investigate."

Uhura turned slowly back to her console, but not before she looked in the direction of the science station, meeting the dark gaze of the one she could now call her bondmate. She smile to him was genuine and happy and she saw the right corner of his mouth turn up just slightly before all attention was back at the station in front of him.

Uhura groaned as she shifted in her chair. She'd lied, she felt absolutely wretched. It was totally worth it, though, and she'd do it all again.

Uhura eagerly would await the next seven years.