A/N: So I have had a minor epiphany regarding Spock and the reader's storyline in the makeup/breakup mini-series, so this is coming to you guys a lot faster than I thought it would, hope you enjoy and sorry for the (slight) delay.
A note on creative license: I tried to keep as much accuracy in the actual Vulcan culture as I could, but I did have to tweak a few things both to keep it within the storyline and because some aspects are not clearly detailed in reachable sources. I did search Memory Alpha, the star trek wikia page, for as much detail as I could. For the casual fan, this should be good, but apologies to anyone intently scrutinizing for accuracy, as this is not perfect.

Also, Bones' should be up soon, I already have his storyline figured out, it's just the task of putting it down to the page, and I wanted to get this fic down before I forgot it (I swear, sometimes I'm Dory from Finding Nemo).

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A/N Pt. 2:
I am an uncoordinated dork. Earlier I tried to hit the 'Save and Preview' button and my hand slipped and hit the 'Publish' button before it was finished.

I unpublished the chapter before hopefully too many people could see it, but my apologizes to anyone who saw the unfinished version or anyone who got the notification and was very confused.

Live long and may the odds be ever in your favor,

-Annora

"Hey (Y/N)! Wait up!" Kirk jogged to catch up to you in one of the ship's hallways.

"Yes, Captain?" You were struggling to keep your emotions in check. It had only been a few hours earlier that you had broken up with Spock, and it still hurt.

He took a deep breath, "Okay, I know you're not gonna want to hear this, but Spock didn't mean to hurt you-"

"Captain I would rather not discuss my personal involvement with the commander at this time" you snipped,

"yeah only we can't really put this off as there's kinda a high chance Spock might die if we don't get this sorted out soon" Kirk explained

"Die? Kirk, what the hell are you talking about? I mean I knew you were a bit dramatic, but this is getting out of hand-"

"No, (Y/N), c'mon just listen. I know you're angry and kinda rightly so but he really needs your help"

"Give me one good reason why I should help him" you spat

"One, because he's in love with you, and two, because he might legitimately die if you don't" Kirk pleaded.

"Jim, you don't get it do you?" your voice faltered, "I don't know what he told you, but he was, he is, married. He was cheating on his wife with me and never said a word about it to me. He betrayed her, and me. You really think he wouldn't betray you? Tell you some lie to get your help getting us back together?-"

"-That's where you've got it all wrong (Y/N)!" Kirk exclaimed, "Just let me explain all this. I would let Spock but he's kind of unconscious in med-bay"

"Unconscious? Jim, what is going on?" panic welled in your chest. As much as you violently tried to fake that you couldn't care less about Spock, you were still in love with him.

"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FREAKING TELL YOU FOR THE PAST TEN MINUTES!" Jim huffed,

"Then spit it out already!" you snipped.

Though a rapid sort of monologue, Jim explained basically the intricacies of Vulcan culture and marriage.

"Okay, so Vulcan apparently in Vulcan culture, the kids are betrothed at a young age, like six or seven. From that point until a ceremony when they're older, they can date freely, they don't have to have a romantic interaction until they're older. Once they hit the age for the second ceremony, they can either properly 'marry' each other, or they can present their other lovers/boyfriends/girlfriend/romantic partners/whatever. Then what would be the proper 'wedding' kinda becomes a fight for the spouse. For Spock, his betrothed 'wife' died in the destruction of Vulcan a few months ago, but he didn't know that until recently. So the whole point of this betrothal system is so they're not romantically alone during this thing called 'Pon Farr', which is basically like going into heat-"

Jim made a sympathetic kind of noise based on the look of shock on your face, but continued,

"-Yeah, really weird, I know. And they say we're promiscuous. Anyway! The good part is they don't actually have to, you know... do, 'that'-" a slight blush colored the Captain's cheeks "-they can basically meditate though it, but the catch is they have to have a betrothed partner, since the betrothal thing kinda gives them like this weird telepathic, empathic bond thing or whatever. But since Spock's 'fianceé' is dead, he's not gonna be able to make it through this"

"So what does this have to do with me?" you asked,

"So Spock really loves you. Sorry to ruin the surprise, but he told me he had planned on properly proposing to you in a couple of weeks, but this 'Pon Farr' thing started apparently a lot earlier than he thought it would, so he kinda needs you to like officially become his bondmate"

"woah woah woah wait a minute-" you spluttered.

"yeah except we don't really have a minute, as Spock could be dead within 48 hours" Kirk said.

"So you want me to get inside his head and marry him?!?" You demanded

"...basically" Kirk winced.

"You're unbelievable!" you snapped,

"(Y/N) I know this is really fast and I'm sure not the way either one of you wanted it, but are you really willing to let him die over this?" Kirk checked his watch "an hour ago you were still madly in love with him"

He had a point...

You groaned and ran a hand through your hair in frustration. The worst part was Kirk was right. You were still madly in love with him, and all your attempts to hide it were failing miserably.

"...What do I have to do?"

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When you reached med-bay, you saw Spock on one of the farther medical tables. He was curled up with his knees pulled up to his chest, dark bangs rumpled and hanging in his face. Even from a distance you could tell his breathing was shallow and uneven.

You crossed medical bay and softly laid a hand on his,

"Spock?"

He jumped, turning wild eyes toward you,

"(Y/N)" he breathed, "what... what are you doing here?"

Over Spock's shoulder, McCoy scanned him with a tricorder, frowned at the results, and stabbed Spock with a hypodermic needle of...something. Spock hissed in pain.

"what'd you do that for?" you asked McCoy

He snorted, "trying in vain to keep his hormone levels balanced. Though trying is like trying to juggle a dozen angry cats while you're on fire"

"okay that's a little extreme"

"See for yourself" He tilted the tricorder so you could see, and you gasped softly. The reading were off the charts, Spock should've been dead.

"Doctor, if you could not violate patient confidentiality in the future, I would be immeasurably grateful-"

"It's a little late for that, Spock, but the only two people who really know anything are Jim and (Y/N)" Bones snarked.

"Exactly my point, doctor" Spock broke down in a violent coughing fit, and you tightened your grip on his hand.

"Well Kirk was the one to explain everything and convince me to come down here, so you should be glad Bones told him" you said.

As Spock fought for breath he looked up to you, "explained what?" he asked

"The whole 'vulcan betrothal' thing. Which, speaking of. I'm sorry. I kinda flew off the handle..." you mumbled the rest of it, you weren't good at apologizes.

Now it was his turn to clap your hand tighter. You perched on the edge of the bio-bed and he immediately leaned against you, burying his face in your shoulder.

You'd never seen him this fragile, this vulnerable before, and it scared you.

You carded your free hand through his hair and kissed his forehead, "what do I have to do to save you?" you whispered. 

Tactfully, McCoy tugged a privacy curtain around the bio-bed and stepped outside it. You swung your legs across the bio-bed and brushed Spock's bangs out of his face, making eye contact. 

"Just tell me what I need to do" you said softly. 

He stared back at you for a moment, seemingly unreachable, then he extended a hand and softly cupped your cheek, then adjusting his hand as to mind-meld you. 

You took a deep breath and held his free hand in both of yours. You had no idea what he was doing but you willed yourself to trust him. 

Under his breath, almost as if in a trance, he began speaking in Vulcan. You had no idea what he was saying, you weren't a communications officer, but it didn't sound too ominous.

Then your vision cut out, and you gasped. The last thing you remembered was hearing the swish of the privacy curtain being pulled back and McCoy swearing profusely. 

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You woke up and cracked your eyes open. It was bright, too bright. You winced at the light and screwed your eyes shut again. 

"Oh good, you're awake"

"Bones?" You opened your eyes again and shielded them with your palm, "What the hell happened?" 

"I could ask you. You fainted a few seconds after Spock initiated the mind-meld. There was a concern that you wouldn't be able to handle a mind-meld because of your Terran constitution" he explained, 

"And nobody thought to tell me that before  I agreed to do it?" you sassed

"well given the only person who would know was rather compromised, yeah, nobody did" Bones sassed back. 

"How's Spock?" you asked

"Fine. He balanced out after you two did your thing. I don't know what you did or what you had to do but you were still able to do it unconscious" Bones said. 

You swung your legs off the bio-bed and shakily got to your feet. Bones offered you a hand but you swatted it away. 

Wandering off on your own power was easy, tracking Spock down was the hard part. Bones wouldn't tell you where he was so you had to hunt around for yourself. 

You found him sitting cross-legged on a bio-bed sheer on the other side of med-bay, hands outstretched in a classic meditation pose and eyes closed. 

For a moment you debated whether or not to disturb, then you figured he could deal with it. 

"Spock?" you asked softly, his eyes opened quickly and he seemed rather surprised. 

"(Y/N)" a slight green blush colored his cheeks, "I must apologize, my behavior in the recent past has been... erratic, emotional... unstable. My condition in no way excuses my actions, but I hope you will accept my apology as-"

"Spock, it's fine" you cut him off "I said some things I should apologize for too, you're not the only one at fault" 

He stood up, and you reached out and took his hand. Staring into his dark brown eyes, you leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his lips. 

Threading his hand around the back of your neck, he pulled you closer, and almost onto the bio-bed before McCoy angrily stalked over ranting about how both of you were supposed to be resting, and that that certainly didn't count.