THE RUNES--part VI

THE RUNES PART 6
AUTHOR: T'Prillah
RATING: NC-17
_________________________________


I kissed him, gently, then lubed up. I was achingly hard. I centered myself at his anus, grabbed onto his hips and tried to push in, but he was tense. I couldn't even get the head in. "Spock…relax for me… let it happen…" He did let it happen. Let me all the way in, in one stroke. His snug, super warmth around my cock felt wonderful. It was hotter than I was used to, almost too hot for comfort. I was nervous for a short moment that I wouldn't be able to handle it, but I slowly got used to him. During my initial explorations inside him, my finger had discovered his prostate. I shifted angle to hit it. Very gently at first I thrust into him, I didn't want to hurt him, then I went a little faster. He arched his back, gasped, then moaned softly, then louder and louder. My moans matched his. The only sound in the cabin were the ones made by us--

"Prepare to leave orbit around Celus IV, Mr. Sulu." Captain Kirk's voice rang out, breaking though my delightful daydream. "Plot course to Gamma Trianguli VI."

We were off to our next assignment. "Should be nice…heard it's a paradise," I muttered, not a little wistfully. I still missed my shore leave on Barengaria.

"Course plotted and laid in, sir," Sulu called out.

"At our rate of speed, estimated arrival, two standard weeks," Spock announced.

"Doctor McCoy." Jim directed his attention over to where I was leaning very nonchalantly against the red railing in front of the science/library station. "Have you managed to finish your report of the Celus IV plant survey?" he enquired of me, coldly.

I had, of course, noticed that since our little confrontation in the lift the other day, he'd avoided calling me `Bones', or `Doc' or anything other than a curt `Doctor McCoy'.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean, Jim?" I hissed underneath my breath. "Of course I've managed to finish it." I flashed him an equally frosty glare. "I wouldn't be up here, wasting time, if I hadn't."

"Then how about heading down to the sickbay and fetching it for me?"

"Certainly, sir," I snapped back. "I'll have that sent up to you in five minutes. Captain."

I spun around to Spock. At that very same instant, he turned from the library station. We gazed at each other for a long moment. I felt Jim's eyes in my back, waiting.

I turned back to Jim, my face wrinkled into a scowl for an instant. I gathered up what remaining dignity I had, and exited the bridge.

I headed down to my office….to finish that report.


---------------------------


I handed Spock the Rune.

Closing his fist over it, he suddenly got what appeared to be a mischievous glint in his eye. "Tonight, I shall surprise you my thy'la."

I groaned. "Surprise me? Forget it. I don't like surprises."

"You used to," he remarked.

"Well I don't anymore. Just tell me what it says to do and let's do it. I'm not in the mood for games," I snapped.

I'd found I was doing a lot of that lately: snapping at him. And at Geoff M'Benga, at Jim Kirk—though he was equally touchy with me, and at Nurse Chapel, and at whoever got in my way. I felt increasingly on edge.

I rubbed my eyes. God they were killing me.

Spock studied me intently then pulled me into his grasp. I struggled to get away, but of course, I couldn't. Lightly at first, then passionately, he planted kisses on my resisting mouth, till I pulled away. "Just tell me what it says," I insisted.

"You shall enjoy it more if I do not disclose what it is."

"Dammit! Stop teasing me!" I yelled. He sighed and gave me almost a dejected look. I flopped down on his bunk, fully clothed. "Fine. Whatever. I don't care anymore. I'm just along for the ride, it seems."

He sat down next to me. "Self pity. How very unattractive. I believe--"

"I don't give a shit what you believe anymore," I sulked. "Just hurry up so we can be done for the night so I can go to sleep and you can go on duty."

"You are angry that I must stand third watch tonight," he observed.

"Yeah," I admitted with a wry smile. Spock hadn't stood a third watch, affectionately known as the `graveyard shift' since we'd started with the Runes. It was bizarre. Why was I so worried about it? I was a big boy, I should be able to sleep without him next to me. I didn't want to.

As I lay there continuing to sulk, Spock made short work of pulling off my uniform, then stood up to remove his own. I didn't bother to watch him strip like I normally did.

"You intend to be passive, Thy'la," he purred. "Then that is exactly what you shall be, tonight."

I dozed off in the warmth of Spock's cabin. "Yeah fine…whatever…" I felt his weight as he straddled me. "Ease off a little," I murmured.

Maybe I should put him on a damn diet card, like I did this week to the captain. Come to think of it, perhaps that's another reason why Jim's being so pissy with me. I mean, the stress of finding out his beloved Spock is now screwing his Chief Medical Officer compounded by the fact that he has to eat salads for a month, must be absolutely galling to him. Well, besides the fact that I've been day dreaming my life away instead of performing my duties.

Maybe Jim'll end up having me transferred off ship. Maybe that wouldn't be too bad an idea.

Maybe I should put in for a transfer after this Rune business is all over and done with. Maybe Jim--

My mournful reverie was interrupted by the sensation of a hot mouth on the head of my cock. I opened my eyes to see Spock crouched over me.

"Hello, Leonard." He looked up with a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Is that what the surprise is? A blowjob? Big deal." I closed my eyes again and pretended not to enjoy it. However my hardening penis was giving me away.

His tongue slid around my head, reached the nerve endings in the back and I squirmed a little. His tongue, expertly, (yeah, expertly) rubbed those nerve endings in the back of my cock. I was now achingly hard. I moaned and with the tip of his finger he circled the pre-cum around the head. His mouth sunk down, swallowing me up to the hilt. That felt so good that I nearly popped off right there, but sensing this, he pulled up and off. He waited for me to come back from the edge then swallowed me again.

Then he pulled up and suddenly ordered: "Leonard, lie on your stomach."

"No…don't…" I protested, for about two seconds. I finally gave in and rolled over.

He pulled me up to all fours; I grimaced and waited. It wasn't that I was totally adverse to him being inside me, I just didn't like it as much as I did being inside him. But if he wanted it that way, tonight, then he wanted it. I tried to relax as I waited for him to get lubed up.

Except, he didn't do what I'd expected him to. He caressed my ass then crouched under me to put the head of my cock into his mouth. Ohhh... that was good. That was damn good. I arched my back and moaned. He pulled his mouth away, continued stroking me with a hand then took up kissing and running his teeth down my ass. I drew my ass up into that sensation as I thrust down into his hand.

His tongue slid down into the space between my cheeks. Further and further down. And, I'll be damned if that Vulcan didn't start rimming me; gently pulling my cheeks apart and circling his tongue round and round my anus. This was a completely unique sensation that I'd never experienced before in my life. It was wonderful.

"Ohhhh yes," I moaned. "Yes, Spock." He slid a tongue in. "Ohhhhh, yes…" I encouraged him as he slid his tongue in deeper and deeper, as far as it would go. The sounds of my little cries filled the cabin.

More unintelligible sounds came out of my mouth as he continued sliding his tongue in and out of me. It brought me crashing up to the edge. "Spock," I gasped. "I can't hold off… " He hummed in response and the heat of his breath on my perineum, paired with low voice and his hot tongue inside pushed me to come hard, squirting all over the bed sheet. I collapsed down, avoiding the wet spot, panting heavily.

He spooned up next to me and held me for many blissful minutes as I recovered. That had felt so good; I couldn't believe it.

I finally looked over at him and smiled.

He nodded. The corners of his mouth turned up as he gave me one of those famous `smiling without actually smiling' expressions.

"Is that what the Rune ordered?" I finally managed.

"It is a blank Rune," he replied.

I yawned. "What does that mean?"

"It means that one of us can pick the night's activity."

"I think you're full of shit, Spock…you're making this up as we go along." However at this point, it didn't really matter. He lay down next to me, caressing my body.

There was a look in his eyes that unnerved me.

He shifted to lie on top of me. He arranged my legs over his shoulders and without a word, lubed up. He centered his cock against my now unresisting body and pushed in.

-----------

The chrono read: 22:45. I reclined on his bunk and watched him anxiously as he moved elegantly across his quarters, showering, then calmly put on a clean uniform. He stood at the mirror calmly combing his sleek black hair. From the looks of him you would have never thought even a strand had ever been out of place.

However, the more I thought about things the more I felt queasy. Tonight something had felt very, very wrong. I felt the whole situation spinning out of my control.

I hadn't really wanted him on top, tonight. Sure, he had been gentle enough with me. But I had noticed that lately whatever Spock wanted, Spock got.

I'd never seen that look of lust from him before. I hated to think it was Pon Farr but I knew instinctively that we'd set something off. It had to be that.

There was something else, much worse. As much as I tried to, I couldn't hide any emotions from him, anymore. I knew he could also read all of my thoughts. It was most likely a by-product from all the intimacy. But it left me feeling violated.

I would be damned glad when these Runes were finally finished. We would be done with the sex for good. We would hopefully get back to our normal lives. But what was supposed to be a normal life for us? How did we go back to being just friends after this? I for one wouldn't be able to look him in the eyes. I would always remember this.

He turned to go.

"Spock," I quickly called out from the bedchamber.

"Goodnight, Leonard."

What? No good night kiss? Nothing? I stood up from his bunk and walked into the office. I was completely nude. I used to be rather bashful about a sex partner seeing me naked, but no more. I made sure he got a good look at me in the low light of the cabin.

It felt a little strange for me to walk into the office chamber, like this. He stared at me. I must admit I now got a perverted pleasure in him seeing the body who kept him warm at night; the body that he was deliberately ignoring right now. The body that he had no more than a couple hours ago, drained all his seed into.

"May I suggest, Leonard," he said, evenly, "that you shower before falling asleep in my bunk. Please change the sheets, as well."

"Spock," I replied hotly, folding my arms. "I'll do one better! I'll take a shower, then, fall asleep in my own bunk! How's that?!"

His expression was stone. "I prefer that you remain here."


"Fuck you!" I spat. I rushed to the sleep chamber, picked up my uniform off the floor and pulled it on.

He was on me in a flash, grabbing onto my wrists. "Leonard," he whispered, "do not do this. Not now."

It hurt where he was grabbing me, but I didn't cry out; I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was causing me any pain. I stared back, stoically. Challenging him. "Do what you want to me, Spock. Isn't that what you always do?"

He released me. "Leonard."

"You knew I didn't want to be penetrated. You did it anyway."

He nodded. "I know. May we discuss this later?" I again saw the fear in his eyes.

I finally nodded and watched him sullenly as he stepped out.

-------------------


The first thing I notice is the smell. I feel the hairs on the back on my neck stand up. That is my only physical response. I inch my way into the overheated cabin. It is no use calling out…I know what I will find. But I still hold onto some irrational hope. As I get closer to the shower, the distinct sickly sweet metallic odor of blood gets stronger… I enter the bathroom, and finally the shower stall. I kneel down among the coagulated pools of blood and feel for the pulse at the neck. Nothing. I feel where the heart is located…nothing. The skin does not yield to my touch. Rigor is beginning to set in… death occurred approximately…14 hours ago. My scanner out…I check for possible minute brain function…nothing… from a precursory visual exam… I can tell the victim has been stabbed at least twenty- eight times along with an initial fatal slash wound at the neck, severing the carotid--

"SPOCK! Who did this to you!?" I screamed. I snapped awake, sweating and panting heavily. I sat up. It was dark here in Spock's quarters. I ordered the lights up. Oddly they would not function.

As I became fully awake, I realized that Spock was still on duty on the bridge. I could feel him there. I didn't know how I could. But, I could. He was safe and sound. I rubbed my eyes.

I glanced over at the demon-like creature on the fire pot. It's red light was the only thing illuminating the cabin. It was always there on Spock's ledge; that fire-pot. Funny, I never noticed it having that expression before. It seemed to be staring straight at me.

An eerie chill moved through my bones. I turned away.

Just then the buzzer sounded. I checked the chrono: 04:01. Who the hell would it be at this hour?

It was Jim Kirk.

"Bones?" He walked in with a bottle of Saurian Brandy and made himself at home by sitting down at the foot of the bed. He stared at me. I could make out his blank stare in the red light. I swiftly pulled the strewn about bedclothes over me for modesty's sake, realizing that I still was completely nude. In the warmth of this cabin, I always slept in the nude.

Now, I felt oddly vulnerable. Jim Kirk never sat on my bed. Maybe he always did that with Spock.

"Jim?" I croaked.

"Yes?" He continued to stare at me, calmly.

"Spock's on duty," I said.

"I know that," he replied.

"So… what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," he said, still staring at me intently. "I wanted to apologize."

"At this hour? Can't it wait till later?"

"No. It can't," he said softly, still staring at me.

"Something wrong, Jim?"

"Just came by to talk, that's all," he replied. He held up the brandy. "Have a drink with me."

"Now, Jim?"

"Uh huh," he said.

Maybe Jim couldn't sleep. Maybe something actually was bothering him and he needed a friend. "Just a minute," I sighed. I rose up from the bunk pulling the sheet with me. Even with my back turned, I knew that for an instant, he'd caught a glimpse of my naked body as I dropped the sheet on the floor to slip on Spock's black silk robe. I could feel Jim's eyes follow my every move.

With the Vulcan robe now `protecting' me, I padded out to the office area in my bare feet, waving Jim over to the desk. "Sit here, Jim," I said. He seemed to rise up off the bed with great difficulty.

Ah. I knew my best friend very well, and my observations of his behavior right now told me that our esteemed starship captain would be needing a hangover cure in the immediate future.

"Jim." I clucked my tongue disapprovingly. "I think you've had enough booze, but maybe I'll make myself a little drink." I'd cut way down on the alcohol ever since being robbed on Barengaria. But, maybe there wasn't any harm in having just one.

"Computer, Main cabin lights up to forty percent," I ordered. They still would not function.

"You still have a few hours before you go on duty," Jim said, oblivious. "Have a drink. That's an order," he chuckled.

I chuckled too. "Sure, why not?." I fetched a glass and took the bottle of Saurian Brandy out of Jim's hands. Pouring the liquid into the glass, I mused, "So let me guess, you were feeling a little guilty about the way you've been treating your kindly old doctor lately. You couldn't sleep, so you thought you'd have a few too many then come on over and pester me." I drained the entire glass of brandy, then poured myself another.

He didn't respond to my comment. He just stared at me, blankly. I laughed feebly and got up from the desk. I felt the crisp silk of Spock's robe fluttering around me as I went over to Spock's dressing table and picked up a bottle of eye drops. I gazed into the mirror as I put the soothing liquid into my bloodshot eyes.

God, my eyes were killing me.

I felt Jim's presence right behind me. His voice seemed to be right in my ear. "What's the matter? Eyes hurt?"

"Yeah. I need to have them checked out by M'Benga. Maybe they didn't heal prop--" I stopped and stared into the mirror. I couldn't see Jim. I should have been able to, even in the low light of Spock's firepot, but I couldn't see him. I spun around in alarm. "Jim? You have no reflection in the mirror."

"Probably just your eyes playing tricks on you."

That must be it. The acid spill really did do a number on them.

Suddenly I noticed a strange odor wafting in. "What's that smell?" I demanded

"Smell? The spicy- flowery scent? It always smells like that in here, Bones. Doesn't it? You should know. You seem to be spending a lot of time in here."

"It smells like copper… or even…urine." I finished up with the eye drops and sniffed the air.

"No…I don't smell anything like that, Bones."

"I could swear…" I looked around the cabin, walked into the bed chamber, sniffing, and walked back to Jim. "It's all around Spock's quarters."

"Well, perhaps it's a malfunction in the heating duct, but it smells like Vulcan spice to me." He shrugged.

"Okay Jim. Fine. Let's talk, shall we?" I beckoned him over to the desk again.

He remained standing then creeped up a little closer to me. "He doesn't mind you wearing his robe?"

"No. Not really."

"Oh."

I studied him. "You didn't come over here at 04:00 just to ask me about Spock's robe."

"No."

I motioned for him to move back to the desk with me. I picked up my glass and drank a huge gulp of brandy. "Jim?"

"Yes?" He continued to stand there and stare at me.

"Just how much have you had to drink tonight?"

"Drink?"

"Yes. You appear to be highly inebriated," I said. "That's unusual. We aren't on leave." I'd had to carry this guy countless times out of bars on various planets. But on board ship he usually restrained himself to one or two drinks.

"I'm fine, Bones," he said softly.

I sighed and set my glass down. It made a soft tap in the quiet. "Uh, look," I said. "I know you're having a difficult time dealing with…" I made a wide gesture. "All of this going on."

He gazed at me.

"And, I want you to know," I continued. "That--very soon--you get to have him back."

He laughed. "That's very kind of you, Bones."

"As soon--"

"As soon as you're done fucking him," he finished the sentence for me. Then he laughed again. A very hollow, sinister laugh. That was not like Jim at all. Even a drunk Jim. "Isn't that right, Bones?" he asked.

I folded my arms around me. "Jim. Listen. I never meant for this to happen. I'm sorry that-- I'm sorry that we hurt you."

"I miss him."

"I know." I studied my bare feet. "I know you do."

"And, I miss you, Leonard," he said.

Uh... "Sure Jim. I miss you too. You and I haven't had a drink together in a while and I--"

He very quietly inched up even closer to me. "I've known you for fourteen years--"

"Yeah I know--"

"And I never…ever…knew that you liked men. In that way."

"I don't," I replied, honestly. "Not really."

He smiled. I guess not believing me for an instant.

Suddenly, there was a slight pinging noise. Probably the ventilation system. Jim turned his head to investigate and spotted the Runes in the corner, sitting there on Spock's ledge. I had thought they were on the bedside table. Perhaps Spock had moved them. Jim immediately made a bee-line for them. "What are these?"

I didn't feel like giving a long detailed explanation to a drunken Jim. "They're nothing."

"Nothing? They look like something." His hand hovered over the velvet bag.

"Please don't touch them, Jim. It's just a pretty trinket I bought on Barengaria Seven." It would be my rotten luck that he'd come into contact with them, and then I'd probably have to have sex with him too.

"Don't touch them? I'm the captain," he chuckled. However, he finally lost interest in them, luckily without laying a hand on them, and came closer to me. "Leonard."

I stepped back. "I think you should leave. Go back to your quarters. Sleep it off. I'll cert you too ill for duty and come see you later on in the day. Okay, Jim?"

He didn't obey. "What's the matter, Bones?"

"Nothing. I just--"

He leaned in even closer to me. Close enough to where I could smell his breath.

"That robe makes you look very--" He suddenly looked around him, shocked. "I'd better go home." He went towards the doors.

I got up and followed him. "That's a great idea. I'll come by and see you later on today. Here I'll give you back your brandy bottle, hang on." I turned away from him to pick up the bottle off the desk; turned back to where he was standing.

He was gone.

"Where'd he go?" I asked aloud; the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. My hand shook as I poured yet another drink. I downed it then poured myself another.

I would be damned glad when Spock came back.

As I finished up my brandy, I decided not to wait for Spock to return. I would go meet him on the bridge. There was no way I was going back to sleep. Not now.

I pulled on my uniform. The silk of my sickbay tunic was wrinkled from where it had laid folded up on Spock's dressing table. I didn't feel like spraying on anti-wrinkle, nobody would notice at this hour. Till the shift change at 06:00, it was still considered night watch, with a skeleton crew.

I strolled out into the darkened and deserted corridor and entered the lift.

Just then, James Kirk bounded into the lift. Eyes bright as a button and crisp as can be in his golden uniform. "Morning, Bones. Your uniform's wrinkled. More so than usual."

I started. "Jim? I just saw you a half hour ago. You were--"

"I was what?"

"You were…well… you were very drunk."

"When?" he chuckled, mildly.

"Just a half hour ago. You came to see me in Spock's quarters. Don't you remember? I suppose you're headed up to sickbay, wanting me to medically sober you up," I growled.

"Bones!" he snapped in his usual `I've had it with your bullshit' voice. "What the hell are you talking about? I've been in my quarters. Asleep."

"Oh..." I shook my head in bewilderment.

"Smells like you've had a lot to drink, Bones. In fact it looks like you can hardly see straight."

My head snapped up. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Late Reports. Daydreaming. Late for your shifts. Mistreatment of your staff. Now this. You're on report, Doctor McCoy," he snapped. "Report to sickbay and get yourself checked out."

"Yes sir."


----------------------


"What does it say?" I couldn't see it from my vantage point.

"Well sir, there's nothing physically wrong with you. However you are experiencing some fatigue," said Chapel. She hovered the Type II small scanner over me as I lay on the biobed. Then she looked up as she confirmed it with the findings on the bed scanner. "Normal physiological functioning, Doctor."

"Well," I snapped. "You're just a nurse. What the hell do you know?"

She jerked her eyes in my direction, stung. I imediately felt like a jerk. What had come over me to say that to her? I'd already been warned once by the captain.

"Of course, Doctor McCoy," she replied curtly. "I'll return to my duties, sir." She stalked away.

"Christine...I didn't mean..." I groaned in her wake. God dammit.


----------------------


According to Spock, the Rune said: utilize a sexual position that we hadn't tried before. Or something to that effect. I didn't know where he got this stuff, but nevertheless, we did it.

I started out by stripping for him slowly as he looked on. He seemed to enjoy watching me undress. I enjoyed undressing in front of him. Never used to. But now I did. I didn't know if it was because it was him watching me, or now I felt more comfortable in general. I pulled off my boots and let them thud onto the deck. I pulled off my silk tunic, held it up with one finger then let it fall, just like I'd seen a stripper do. There was no self conscious giggles from me, not anymore. Never again.

That look in his eyes as he watched me was pure concentration. Almost as if he was committing all of this to memory. I touched my black undershirt. I pulled it up and off, and dropped it, slowly. I could see myself in his mirror from where I was standing. It caught my intense blue eyes. Is that what I looked like when I gazed at him in bed? I caressed my own chest hair; traced my clavicle with a finger. I didn't have as much hair as he did. His eyes were riveted.

It was quiet here in Spock's cabin, enough to hear a pin drop. My hands slid down my belly to the fastening of my trousers. I teased him by sticking a finger in my waistband and running it back and forth. But I got hard doing that and these damn trousers hid nothing. I swiftly unfastened them, and slid them down. They fell down to the deck with a soft thump. I walked up towards the bed, sat down and removed my underwear and socks. "Take your fucking uniform off, now Spock," I ordered.

He did.

He stood up naked. His pale green cock stood up proudly. I laid down on his bunk. I picked up the bottle of lubricant that he'd made up when we'd first started these Runes, opened it up and sniffed it. Vulcan spice. As long as I lived and breathed, I would never forget that scent. Ever.

Anticipating what I wanted him to do, he took the bottle of lubricant from me. He poured it into his hands; applying the sweet smelling oil generously to my flushed pink, equally proud cock. As he applied the oil, he pulled my foreskin back and forth over the head of my penis. God that felt so good.

He hovered over me and slid a finger inside him. He readied himself, then lowered himself slightly to rest his anus against my head. Oh...I willed him. Now. Do it now. Again I saw the look of intense concentration in Spock's eyes. He let his weight carry him down, enveloping me. As he sank down on my cock, he bent forward to kiss me with those bow shaped lips of his. That kiss was sloppy; hungry. We relaxed into each other.

He pulled himself up, then down, then up, repeating it again, again and again. If there'd been a red alert right now calling us to duty; we wouldn't have been able to stop this.

Then suddenly I was coming and coming deep into his ass. He came too onto my belly. He collapsed forward and I held onto him.

The sex was getting better and better.

I dozed off still holding on to him.

-------

01:00. Spock was on night watch again, so I'd decided to pull an all-nighter in the sickbay. I was exhausted after that latest sexual encounter of ours, hours earlier, but I didn't want to sleep in his quarters without him.

I was in the sickbay mirror putting more eye drops into my burning eyes, (God these things were killing me.) when I heard footsteps pass by.

"Christine," I spotted her tidying up around the sickbay and cleaning slides. All of the orderlies were off duty for the night. "I'll finish that up. Your shift ended five minutes ago. You go get some sleep."

"Thank you, Doctor." She smiled and left me to it. Apparently grateful that I wasn't snapping her head off for a change.

I picked up the box of slides and continued where she'd left off. In the quiet of my sickbay, save for a few hums of the bio- monitors in the main ward, that I'd left switched on, it felt comforting in here. This was my home. It had been for two years so far and now I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

My subordinates thought I was crazy, but when my reports were done and there was nothing else to do I had no qualms about performing what was considered the most menial of tasks around the sickbay, such as this… simply cleaning up.

I remembered the look Chapel had given me, the first time she'd saw me cleaning my own slides. I suppose they figured physicians normally didn't lower themselves to such things. Especially the CMO. It was awful, but true. We expected everyone else lower in the pecking order to clean up after us, I guess. I mean I wasn't the neatest person in the world, I had my dirty uniforms and bath towels spread about the floor of my quarters and now was doing the same to Spock's abode, but I hated to be picked up after.

I chuckled as I remembered that look of Christine's. That was the same look she had given me when she found out I could knit. And I could. Fast. Without looking down at my fingers. Many surgeons can knit, it keeps our fingers nimble. The art had been around for hundreds of years on Earth. I knitted Christine a scarf for her last birthday. She couldn't believe that, I'd actually hand knitted her a damn scarf. Come to think of it, scarves have been around for hundreds of years, too.

I should knit Spock one. I should make him wear nothing but the scarf…

I felt myself get aroused again and chuckled. Never failed.

It was so blissfully quiet in here that I decided that once I was done here, perhaps I would watch a movie or something in my office. Or perhaps catch up on a medical journal. Or do some knitting. Or sit in a chair and fantasize about my evening with Spock.

I put the box of slides away, sighed deeply.

And turned right into the face of Jim Kirk.

I jumped. "Oh! Jesus, Jim! I didn't hear you come in--"

"Bones?" He grabbed his shoulder. "This is killing me."

At first I regarded him suspiciously but he looked like he really was in pain. I finally beckoned him over to a bio-bed in the deserted main ward. Of course. He didn't need to say anything more. He'd suffered an old injury when we'd first met, fourteen years ago. He'd actually severed that damn arm off right at the shoulder in an explosion when he was a lieutenant. I'd reconnected that shoulder and arm a micron at a time. It took me 26 hours of surgery to complete it, but I did it. However periodically it would give him trouble. That was to be expected. A quick bout of therapeutic massage and he was always good to go. Till the next time I had to patch him back together.

As I watched him pull his tunic off, I couldn't help but notice with amusement that he never wore a black t-shirt underneath it like the rest of us did. Didn't he ever feel cold?

He lay down for me on the bio-bed and I dug my fingers underneath the clavicle, where it had shattered in the original injury, then slid them down and dug into the socket where the arm had severed, and put pressure on them. He closed his eyes. "What are you doing here so late Bones?"

"Just felt like finishing up some work, that's all Jim. "What's the matter? Pain keeping you from sleeping?"

"Hmmmm…I was looking for you."

"You were? You could of summoned me on the comn--"

"Didn't feel like it."

"Oh." I sat him up, finished up with his shoulder then patted him. "Okay. All done."

He continued to sit there. "Don't stop. That feels really good."

I sighed. He was going to weedle a complete back rub out of me. "Alright. Lay back down and roll over."

He suddenly reached out and pulled me to him.

"Jim? Hey, what are you--"

"Bones," he said softly. In a fluid move, all without releasing his grip on me, he hopped down off the bed and pulled me into a crushing embrace. Before I could react he pressed his lips onto mine.

I struggled to pull away, but he had a tight grip on the back of my neck so I patiently waited till he broke the kiss. "Jim?" I laughed in spite of myself as soon as he pulled his mouth away. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I love you," he said.

I gaped at him in shock. I couldn't move. He tilted my chin up for another kiss, but this time I was successful in averting his mouth. Undaunted, he pushed me back till I smacked into a bulkhead. He crushed his body into mine, pushed his pelvis onto mine.

"Knock it off Jim!" I struggled to break away from him, but he was stronger than I was.

"Leonard…" he leaned over and breathed. "I want you."

I could feel his hot breath on my neck. Ugggghh no.

I was furious. "You want me? Jim? Are you insane? Right here in the goddamn Sickbay?"

"Anywhere," he growled.

I shook my head. "Oh…no…no you don't, Jim. Get off of me. What about Spock?"

"Spock?"

"Yeah. SPOCK. Don't you want him?"

"I don't want him."

"I thought there was something going on between you two."

"No. Who told you that?"

"Nobody. I just thought--"

"Leonard, I'm in love with YOU…!"

"…I'm in love with you!" I snapped awake and bolted upright with Jim's voice reverberating in my head. I was alone here in Spock's quarters. Absolutely alone. God dammit! Why did I just have a dream about Jim? I felt sick. I felt absolutely disgusted and sick.

I went into the bathroom wanting to throw up. I tried hard. But I couldn't. I put my head into the sink and turned on the faucet. I kept my forehead in the water stream till the nausea passed. I glanced over at the bathroom chrono: 0600 hours.

I wasn't on duty till 08:00 but I knew Spock had just gotten relieved off watch by Jim (coming in early) and was now off the bridge. If he got off duty early, sometimes he went and hid somewhere, now that I was staying here with him, using the time to meditate. I took a shower, dressed and instead of heading over to the officer's mess for breakfast, I decided to go looking for him.

I didn't even have to think about it. My feet brought me to the observation deck.

I found him sitting there, staring thoughtfully at the stars. He didn't seem very surprised to see me.

I plunked down on the bench next to him and also stared out into the macrocosm. "I must be psychotic," I announced, bluntly. "I have to be. I've become exceedingly paranoid. I'm smelling strange scents in your quarters. I've just had a lucid dream that Jim jumped me in the sickbay; telling me he's in love with me. I think I spoke to Jim in your quarters the night before, but I'm not certain."

He nodded. "I know."

I looked at him askance. "How do you know?"

"I just do," he replied.

"Spock, I'm going to have myself declared unfit for duty and have a full psych eval run on me."

"Unnecessary. Your apparent psychosis is not your fault. It is due to the Runes."

"Oh... is that all it is," I mumbled.

"This artifact is affecting both of us in various ways which is most unsettling."

"Both of us? You're affected as well?"

"Indeed. My judgment has been off. I am also making many technical errors. My mind is occupied."

"With what?"

"Copulation."

I nodded. "Yes. I had noticed."

"My lust for you appears to be increasing, the longer the Runes reside in my quarters."

I nodded. "I thought perhaps it was Pon Farr. So that's also, the Runes? You're tied to these ancient things, somehow."

He nodded. "We Vulcans share a great psychic empathy with the past. Once in a while, we will come into contact with an object and will subconsciously take on many of the attributes of the ancient society which produced it. In this case, it is the highly sexualized society of the F'Thinrakathi."

"You're becoming sensual just like they were?"

He nodded.

"Well, then it's a good thing I didn't bring home a sword from your violent civil war," I remarked.

"Indeed," he replied. "That would have been most… unfortunate. However there is more to it than that."

Another chill ran though my body. It felt very cold here in the observation deck. "Spock...I...I don't know...I feel afraid. It's irrational. I know that deep down. But...I'm terrified."

"There is good reason for your feelings. However, I cannot do anything to assist us. We must ride out the rest of the Runes and hope for the best."

"Hope for the best? That's not your usual way of thinking."

"Till the Runes are finished, it is."

I cleared my throat. "Listen. I've also been having some nightmares about a newlywed couple. They were stabbed to death. I've been having dreams like that since we started those damn things."

He sighed. "I know. The original owners of the Runes."

"Who were they?"

"In my own research, I discovered that the original owners were a Royal couple who had been brutally murdered. They were in the middle of the course of these Runes. The Runes were a wedding gift created by the Bride's grandmother as an aid in sexual intercourse. The couple were not able to finish the course of the Runes. They shortly after became cursed. As legend has it, In order for the curse to be lifted, a couple must finish them. Not just any couple. One of red blood, and one of green blood, who share dreams."

"How did you discover this?"

"Partially from the VSA, I have access to records that are not in the public domain. And partially from T'Pau."

"T'Pau?"

"That is correct," he said. "For a time in her youth T'Pau had been chosen to carry the katra of the last remaining F'thinrakathi priestess. While it was being moved from one recepticle to another, she was the guardian of it temporarily."

"So...T'Pau knows about the Runes."

"All Vulcan's know of the legend."

"And what does she think about you having sex with a human... man?"

"She agrees, it is logical. It is imperative that we end the curse of the Runes so that they may be safely returned to the museum."

"The sooner we can take them to the museum, the better Spock. I'll be glad to get rid of them. It just seems strange that an object is affecting us so much."

"It is not that unusual. You have a similar occurance in your history. In Kabbalah and Jewish folklore there is a phenonomon known as the 'Dybbuk'."

"A Dybbuk?" I nodded. "I know what that is. It's a malicous possessing spirt believed to be the soul of a person who commited a serious sin while they were alive. But, it's just a myth, Spock."

"Do not be so sure. In the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries there existed an object known as the 'Dybbuk Box'. A Dybbuk had allegedly attached itself to an object. A wine box. The box had been supposedly created before World War II to trap a malicious spirit during seances. The box became cursed. It was rumored to have a hand in many tragic events during that war. Each subsequent owner of this box has also experienced a string of personal tragic events. One had nightmares that an old woman beat him repeatedly. Another had nightmares of attempted rape. Other experienced strange scents of cat urine and flowers. There were instances of burning eyes. Another suffered a stroke. Another, an onset of psychosis and rages."

"I read about that too. Spock. It was just a hoax."

"It was never absolutely proven to be a hoax."

I shifted. "Spock...about that document I read on your terminal..."

"Yes: 'Hear O Israel, the Lord is one. Blessed is the name of his honored kingdom forever'," he said.

"A prayer," I realized.

He nodded. "It is an ancient Jewish prayer said in times of fear or death. I was translating it into ancient Vulcan."

"Spock," I looked at him. "In that document, that prayer was repeated over and over again. You filled up 500 pages with just that one phrase."


"Indeed. Each prayer was repeated fifty two times per page. A total of twenty six thousand times. That should be sufficient."

The thought of Spock performing an action so obsessive was unnerving. "Sufficient for what, Spock?"

"Protection."

"Why?"

"I am also...afraid."

My blood went cold. "If you.... say that... the Runes are similar to this 'Dybbuk Box' then, an evil spirit inhabits the Runes?"

"I believe that they are inhabited by the katra of the murderer of the Royal couple. This person was killed shortly after their deaths. Shortly after that the entire civilization of the F'thinrakathi was irradicated."

"The Runes are haunted?" I breathed out slowly, patiently. This was alot to swallow. "Do you think the Runes caused the death of a whole ancient civilization?"

"I do not know. Quite possibly."

"So you're not certain."

"I cannot be certain about anything," he admitted. "However recent events aboard the Enterprise would point to the validity of my findings."

"So is the Enterprise in danger?" I asked.

"If we do not finish them. There is a chance."

"We only have two days left to finish. So we're okay...right. Just two more days. Nothing terrible will happen in two days."

"Agreed. We most likely have nothing to be concerned about."

I was quite for a few moments; then I realized something. "Spock. You've just said that a 'couple' were fabled to irradicate the curse. We're not really a couple. Is that enough to end the curse of the Runes?"

He grimaced.

"Spock. Answer me. Why would it uh....'believe' that we were a couple? It was purely coincidental that you read the parchment with me. Wasn't it?"

"It is not coincidental. We are indeed the fabled couple. And, we share dreams."

"I thought Vulcan's didn't dream."

"Contemporary Vulcan's do not. The other half of the couple must be one with green blood--one who dreams. That is I. Since I am half human, I possess the capability to dream."

"Spock. How are we able to share dreams? I'm not telepathic."

He looked down. I glanced over to where he was looking. His fingers were tightly clasped together, almost to the point where he was white knuckled. Spock hesitated, then finally said, "You are indeed telepathic."

"No," I protested. "You must be mistaken. I'm nearly psi-blind. I have a very low rating--"

"You most definately possess some telepathic ability. As strong as my mother did even before she bonded with my father. A human must posess some ability if they are to bond."

"Bond?" Then suddenly, it hit me. "Oh my God. You and I are bonded."

"That is correct," he confirmed.

I hit the padded bench. Then I hit it again and again and again. No matter what else was going on... real or not. This was definately real.

He watched my outburst without comment then waited for me to calm down.

He continued on calmly, "Upon our being intimate, a marriage bond was created between us. It was initially a very light link. It formed precisely because of your apparent latent telepathic ability. I had hoped…I had hoped that… you would not notice it. However, it deepened. Slightly. Enough for you to become aware."

I cleared my throat. I felt like I was going to pass out. He'd hoped I wouldn't notice? "So you mean to tell me, we bonded, just from… having sex?"

"Before that. It occured when I merely touched your lips with my fingers."

"The first time you kissed me. The laser beam in my brain. That was you bonding with me?"

"I am sorry."

That bastard. He knew that would happen all along. He did it deliberately. I stood up, eyes blazing. "You weren't going to tell me anything, were you! You were just going to let me wonder why I was going insane. Dybbuk Box! Ancient haunted Runes! Bull! Are you out of your Vulcan mind? Why did you do this to me?! How could you do this to me?!"

"I did not intend for this to happen."

"That is absolute bullshit! You're in pon farr, that's it. Isn't it. You need somebody to take it out on and you decided I would do as I'm the weakest one. You probably tried to bond with Jim and he fought you! I sure as hell would never consent to a bond with you! You knew exactly what would happen! You seduced me!" I screamed at him full volume, got up and made my way to the exit.

He stood up. "Leonard, please--"

"You wanted this from the beginning!" I yelled back. "I didn't want this with you! I feel powerless, like I'm a little lamb about to be sacrificed."

"No Leonard," he replied. "Ancient Vulcans only sacrificed virgins--"

"That's not very goddamned funny!" I stormed out of the observation deck, kept going down the corridor till I made it to the lift.

In the lift I began shaking uncontrollably. I hit the `stop' button and sank down to the deck into a crumpled heap.

I rested my head onto my knees. "No…" I groaned. "This wasn't supposed to happen. I never wanted this to happen. Not with him. Why me? Why now?"

I should have never bought those damn Runes. I should have left them there. I'd only come in the damn shop for the Romulan Ale, but it had been too expensive. These Runes were so cheap. I should have known. Should have bought the Romulan Ale anyway. Anything but the Runes. They were so enchanting. So beautiful. Now I'm trapped. All because of me.

I should have known.

I'm trapped with this lunatic Vulcan. Forever.

The tears came. I didn't even bother trying to stop them from rolling down my cheeks.

I sobbed into my knees.

I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed till the silk of my sickbay smock was drenched with my tears.

Then… I felt something.

Something in my mind. Intertwining around my thoughts.

He was trying to comfort me. In my mind.

Leave me alone! I screamed out in my mind as loud as I could. Then I screamed it out loud, just in case he'd missed it.

I sat there for long minutes, feeling sorry for myself. Knowing he was right here with me. Not letting myself feel him.

/no please it's too much...all of this is too much...I can't handle this…/

/leonard/

/leave me alone, Spock…/

Drawing up all my strength, I was able to clamp down and shut him out. If I just didn't think. I could shut him out.

I eventually heard the soft chime accompanied by the emergency light and the computer's pleasant, non-committal voice asking if I needed assistance. It always happened if you stopped the lift for too long.

I finally gathered myself together, stood up, popped open the door and exited.

I walked with a stiffly controlled expression, along with my red face and wet tunic, past a few curious glances in the corridor. I stopped in at my quarters--my own quarters, which, oddly, seemed very cold.

I quickly changed my uniform then went on to my duties in sickbay.

---------------------------

End of Part 6.