...Touching and Touched - Part 9

...Touching and Touched

by HopefulRomantic

Rating: NC-17, for language and sexual situations
Disclaimer:Star Trek: Enterprise is the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. All original material herein is the property of its author.

Spoilers: Well, sort of. There are a few references made to earlier stories of mine: one from the Reconnecting series, For As Long As Ever Lasts, and two others, The Storyteller and Childhood Is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies. It’s not necessary to have read these stories to understand what’s transpiring in this chapter, but it might enrich the experience.

A/N: I doff my cap to the Vulcan Language Dictionary and the late, great Vulcan Language Institute, which gave me help with the lingo. As always, thanks to my fabulous betas Stephanie, TJinLOCA, and Jenna, who are so much fun to work with.

Date: 4-9-06

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Part 9

Chapter 11: Touching Souls

The VIP suite was magnificent, designed to please the most demanding dignitaries who deigned to visit Starfleet. The rooms were elegant without being opulent, tastefully appointed with every amenity imaginable. As Archer navigated the splendid maze, he remembered back to the days of the NX program, when all the pilots regularly ribbed Paul Gardner for his inordinately good taste. Archer was pleased to see how well it had paid off for Paul, and for Starfleet, now that he was running the show.

Archer entered the spacious sitting room to find Soval and T’Pol arranging candles in a ceremonial circle in preparation for the bonding ritual. Chuck and Catherine returned from their tour of the suite a moment later. “This place is bigger than our first house,” Chuck remarked dryly.

“The bathroom is a religious experience,” Catherine added.

Trip entered from the kitchenette, where he had been nosing through the cupboards and fridge. “Looks like there’s enough food here to last a week,” he reported. “Including supplies of theris-masu and chamomile tea...sash-savas juice—hoo, that’ll wake ya up in the mornin’...strawberries, yon-savas, and Rocky Road ice cream.”

“Rocky Road is Karyn’s favorite,” Archer supplied. “I suppose all those things are her and Lorian’s favorite foods, though I have no idea how Admiral Gardner would know.”

“Karyn discovered Rocky Road ice cream at the Starfleet cafeteria,” Lorian said, entering from the master bedroom, where he had been putting away his and Karyn’s belongings. “Admiral Forrest introduced me to Vulcan fruits and teas as well, during our stay at the Starfleet compound. I quickly developed a fondness for them.”

“Forrest must’ve been taking notes,” Archer commented.

“I’d bet Gardner has some crack adjutant whose sole purpose is to keep track of stuff like that,” Trip added.

“Admiral Gardner is quite perceptive,” Lorian acknowledged. “He has been most astute to emulate Admiral Forrest’s characteristic attention to detail.”

Trip grinned at T’Pol. “I wonder what Rocky Road would taste like topped with slices of yon-savas?”

T’Pol repressed a faint shudder as she began lighting the candles. “If you are looking for a ‘guinea pig,’ I advise you to continue your search.”

Lorian turned to Soval. “Ambassador, judging from your mind-touch with me earlier, might it be possible for me to learn to initiate melds myself? I’m aware that my telepathic abilities may be limited...”

“Your ability is undisciplined, but nevertheless quite strong,” Soval replied. “You appear to have inherited your mother’s natural talent. As to the extent of your skills, we cannot know without further investigation.”

“I would appreciate your guidance.”

“Of course,” Soval said. “We have little time left before Columbia’s launch, but it should be sufficient to find the answers you seek. We shall engage in some preliminary exercises.”

Lorian nodded, endeavoring to quell his eagerness before the ambassador. “That would be agreeable.”

“So,” Catherine said to Soval, “tell us more about this bonding ceremony. What’s it like?”

T’Pol glanced warmly at Trip as Soval replied, “It is a special mind-meld that establishes a connection of complete trust with one’s chosen bondmate, without secrets or doubts. To be bonded is to communicate with total understanding, to be as close as two people can be.”

Catherine was enthralled. “Trip’s told us a bit about mind-melding. How would you describe it, ambassador?”

Soval pondered for a moment. “I would characterize it as an exercise in willing vulnerability,” he said at last. “The participants must open themselves to complete receptivity. It can be a daunting prospect, but it is a rewarding one.”

As the others listened intently to Soval, Chuck hung back. This whole thing still made him feel squirrelly. It was a cinch he’d never be volunteering for one of these mind-meld things. But the idea wasn’t quite as grimace-worthy as it had been this morning, when his acquaintance with the people involved was only a few minutes old. Now he considered Lorian and Karyn family, and he knew how crazy they were about each other. It made a loopy kind of sense that they’d want to be inside each other’s heads, too.

He still must have had a grimace on his face, though, because Jon was giving him a cock-eyed smile. “It’s not all that bad.”

Chuck stared at him. “Don’t tell me you’ve been through one of these things.”

“Several, actually.”

A whole mess of questions popped into Chuck’s head, each jostling for supremacy. Finally he asked, “What do they feel like?”

Archer shrugged. “Once you get past the sensation of having your personal space violated and your mind peeled open like an onion by a total stranger...”

Chuck scowled at him. “Thanks. I feel so reassured.”

“Don’t mention it,” Archer replied lightly.

Catherine looked around. “Where did Karyn go off to?”

Lorian nodded toward the French doors leading to the balcony. Outside, Karyn was a lone silhouette in flowing ice-blue, looking somehow fragile and out-of-place against the star-splashed night sky.

“What’s she doin’ out there, all by herself?” Catherine asked.

“Having second thoughts, perhaps,” Lorian said, with a touch of wryness.

But both Trip and T’Pol could sense the uncertainty that their son was concealing from the others. They exchanged a mental glance, and T’Pol made the first reply. “A more logical assumption is that she is preparing herself for the bonding ritual.”

“Practicing her Vulcan,” Trip added. He winked at the captain. “If I know my Archers, she wants to get everything just right.”

“Lorian’s got a point,” Chuck spoke up. “We humans are used to being alone inside our heads. She might be out there kissing her nice, quiet private mind good-bye.”

Catherine took her husband firmly by the arm. To the others, she smiled sweetly. “Excuse us for a moment.” Then she dragged Chuck out of the room.

“Well,” Archer said pleasantly, “while Catherine is bawling Chuck out, I’ll go check on Karyn.” He headed outside.

Trip plopped onto the sofa. “Don’t you just love family get-togethers?” he sighed, to no one in particular.

-- -- --

Catherine shoved Chuck into the nearest bedroom and shut the door. “What the hell do you know about what those two do or don’t want?” she hissed furiously.

Chuck folded his arms, unrepentant. “I’m just sayin’—”

“Nobody asked you! So hush up, before I take your fool head off. You’re an invited guest, Chuck.”

“I’m family!” Chuck retorted. “That’s what everybody keeps tellin’ me, isn’t it?”

“That doesn’t give you the right to act like a boor.”

“What if she is having second thoughts about this bonding thing?” Chuck said stubbornly.

“That’s their business, not yours. Just because you don’t like the idea of bonding, it doesn’t mean Lorian and Karyn don’t want it more than anything in the world.” Catherine sighed. “Chuck, if you’d just keep your mouth shut and your eyes open, you might learn something.”

Chuck chewed the inside of his lip, clearly unconvinced. But he nodded, grudgingly. “I’ll behave.”

Catherine smiled tiredly and gave him a kiss. “I swear, Chuck, if I didn’t love you so much, I’d kill you.”

-- -- --

When Archer stepped onto the balcony, he found Karyn gazing out at the bay, her face unreadable. She looked as if she were shivering, but it wasn’t cold. She seemed a far cry from the irrepressible, bubbly dynamo of a few hours ago.

“Nice view,” he remarked. She nodded, saying nothing. “Soval’s almost ready.” Another wordless nod. Archer gave up and went fishing. “Excited?”

Karyn examined the toes of her pale blue satin shoes. At last she spoke, her voice almost too soft for him to hear. “Nervous.”

It was the last thing Archer expected. “About mind-melding?” he asked gently.

“About not melding.” Karyn looked out across the blue-black sea, watching the moonlight rippling across the water. She sounded very young. “What if we can’t? What if we aren’t able to bond? What if this doesn’t work, because I’m not Vulcan?”

“Trip’s not Vulcan. He and T’Pol did just fine.”

“Lorian’s not T’Pol.” Karyn glanced down again. “He’s unique.”

“From what Soval tells me, Lorian’s uniqueness is the reason you’re able to attempt this bonding at all.” Archer stroked her back soothingly. “What happened to my eternal optimist?”

She looked up at him, and Archer saw the mingled hope and concern in her eyes. “Lorian wants this so much. I do, too. If it doesn’t happen—if we can’t feel each other through the bond—“

“Plenty of people enjoy long, happy marriages without being bonded.”

“That’s because they don’t know what they’re missing.” As soon as she said it, Karyn blushed and looked away.

Archer studied her for a long moment. “And you do?”

Almost imperceptibly, she nodded. “Sometimes I can sense what he’s feeling, when his emotions are strong. They’re just moments, glimpses...but they’ve been so profound. It’s hard to put into words...like looking into his soul.”

Archer was fascinated. “When did it start?”

“After we began courting,” Karyn said carefully, without looking at him.

Archer smiled to himself. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she actually meant after we began sleeping together, but he found her modesty charming. She and Lorian certainly were a perfect match in that respect.

“Soval calls it an empathic link,” she continued. “We think it has something to do with the effect of our emotional connection on Lorian’s hybrid genetic makeup.”

“What is Lorian’s reaction to this?”

“Frustration,” Karyn said flatly. “The link is only one-way, from him to me, because he’s the telepathic one. He can’t sense me at all, but he wishes to, more than anything. Being bonded was something he didn’t think was possible for us, until...” She sighed, her eyes drifting back out to the dark, silent sea.

“Have faith in your love, honey,” Archer said reassuringly. “It hasn’t let you down yet.”

Karyn hugged him, feeling calmer in his embrace. “You know, for a man who never raised any children, you’re awfully good at this paternal wisdom thing.”

Archer chuckled. “It doesn’t hurt when the first ‘child’ I’m dispensing wisdom to is twenty-six years old. Also intelligent, capable, self-assured, beautiful...everything I could have hoped for. And I didn’t even have anything to do with how you turned out.”

“Wrong,” Karyn smiled. “You were my inspiration. You were in my blood. You were Jonathan Archer. Of course, until the day we made contact with your ship, you were just a file in the database—log entries, reports, pictures. It was when Lorian and I stepped through that airlock hatchway and I saw you that you came to life for me.” Suddenly, she looked young again, but it was the expression of an adoring little girl. “It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

Archer was taken aback, and a little embarrassed. “You played it pretty cool.”

Karyn laughed. “I was trying not to pass out. Here we all were, intent on saving the world, and I felt like a starstruck teenager.”

He kept thinking she must be talking about someone else. “I’m not the Jonathan Archer you grew up hearing about,” he said quietly. “Far from it.”

“But you will be,” she replied, with simple certainty. “The mark you leave here will be different than the one you left in my timeline. But you will accomplish great things. I know you will.”

She sounds like Daniels. God, now I have two of them. Aloud, he said with amusement, “That’s your unbiased assessment, is it?”

“Of course!” Karyn declared. But her straight face cracked a moment later, giving way to a sunny smile.

He kissed her on the cheek. “There’s my eternal optimist.”

-- -- --

As Soval set out meditation pillows within the circle of candles, Trip took Lorian aside. “Did Soval tell you how the bond’s gonna...affect the two of you right at first?”

“He mentioned that Karyn and I would be drawn to each other for a time,” Lorian replied.

“Drawn—?” Trip rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I suppose that’s the Vulcan way of phrasing it.”

“You would characterize the bond’s immediate effects differently?”

Personally, Trip would have put it, so crazed with desire that you’ll want to fuck each other silly for days on end. But he didn’t want to make Lorian uncomfortable...or spoil the fun. So he said, “Lemme put it this way. Don’t start anything—don’t even kiss her—until you two are alone.”

Lorian looked intrigued. “Why?”

Trip leaned closer, his voice dropping to a suggestive near-whisper. “They don’t call it a mating bond for nothing, son.”

Lorian’s eyes widened as he began to get Trip’s drift. But there was no opportunity for more questions; the captain was escorting Karyn inside.

Trip took a seat on the couch alongside T’Pol and his parents. As Lorian moved into the candlelit circle where Soval waited, Archer delivered Karyn with a kiss on her cheek, then stepped back. She was calm now, focused on her love for Lorian and his for her, and trusting in it. Whatever the bond gave them, she would be content, because she had Lorian.

“Are you ready, Niece?” Soval asked.

There was no longer any need for the ambassador to keep up the pretext of “niece” and “uncle,” with the wedding ceremony and public celebration over, yet he was still addressing Karyn as family. She felt deeply honored. With a gentle smile, she replied, “Yes, Uncle. I’m ready.”

Soval held out a hand, welcoming her into the warm glow of the ceremonial circle.

Catherine leaned in to Chuck. “What an ol’ softy Ambassador Cranky turned out to be,” she murmured.

“Ambassador Toasted Marshmallow,” Chuck said softly in reply. “Crisp and brittle on the outside, sweet and gooey on the inside.”

Catherine bit her lip to stifle an appreciative chuckle. Ambassador Toasted Marshmallow. She knew she would never look at Soval in quite the same way again.

Archer dimmed the room lights. Now the only illumination came from meditation candles and moonlight. He moved to stand behind the couch, with the rest of the family.

Soval nodded to Lorian and Karyn, and the pair knelt before each other on the meditation pillows. The ambassador began the ceremony, his voice giving the Vulcan words an unlabored elegance. “Etek hoknau fi’nash-gef, vah sha’sutra hoknau na’akarshif—ruhm svi’tsatik—kup-toglantau telan t’katra.”

T’Pol translated quietly, for the benefit of the humans. “We are gathered on these shores, as our people have gathered for centuries—even in secret—to witness a bonding of souls.”

Soval addressed Lorian. “Lorian, sa-fu Charles, sa-fu T’Pol, nam-tor du na’telan?” Lorian, son of Charles, son of T’Pol, are you prepared for bonding?

“Nash-veh nam-tor,” Lorian replied calmly. I am.

Soval turned to Karyn. “Karyn, ko-fu Charles, ko-fu Olivia, nam-tor du na’telan?” Karyn, daughter of Charles, daughter of Olivia, are you prepared for bonding?

Karyn felt like beaming from ear to ear, but a properly Vulcanesque demeanor seemed more appropriate. She kept her expression composed. “Nash-veh nam-tor,” she answered.

With a sure but delicate touch, Soval placed one hand on Lorian’s face, and the other on Karyn’s, his practiced fingers automatically finding the katra points for melding. The pair closed their eyes as Soval intoned softly, “Sha’kashkau na’vu’kashkau...” My mind to your minds...

The witnesses watched in transfixed silence—Archer hopeful, Trip and T’Pol aglow with their own memories of bonding, and Catherine spellbound. Only Chuck remained unsettled, still fighting down the last remnants of his queasiness. They asked for this, he told himself resolutely. They want this. They’re not you, old man...

“Sha’nahp na’vu’nahp...” My thoughts to your thoughts...

Lorian felt the ambassador enter his mind, as he had earlier that day. Soval’s consciousness was stronger this time, more direct...a commanding stride rather than a whisper, though with no less finesse.

Karyn knew well the sensation of Lorian’s unbridled emotional essence tumbling unannounced into her mind, but Soval’s presence was profoundly different—disciplined, ordered, purposeful. Still, his mental touch was powerful and startling. Disoriented, she reached out blindly. Lorian took her hands in his and held on, steadying her.

“Sha’kashkau nam-tor nohvan...” Our minds are merging...

Karyn felt a rush of concern and love from Lorian. Gladly, she turned toward his familiar presence—and she realized that she could see him with her mind’s eye, deep and warm, aglow with selflessness and unabashed adoration.

“...Sha’kashkau nam-tor veh,” the three said in unison. Our minds are one.

Lorian gasped as he felt the full force of Karyn’s emotions for the first time. It was as if he’d been plunged into a bottomless pool of soft, sweet, pure devotion. The sensation left every fiber of his being electrified, every sense heightened and focused wholly on her. It was more wondrous than all his imaginings.

He could see her now, in his mind...a sunny, smiling presence, shining with a brilliance born of her optimism. She seemed unreal, impossibly beautiful, like a magical creature from that enchanted forest for which he was named.

<< Can this be you, my beloved? >> he asked, with the soft, low inner voice of his mind. << Is this your heart I feel at last? >>

The shimmering beauty smiled, cupping his face in her hands. << Yes, love. >> To his delight, her presence intensified with her touch. Lorian decided he could happily die thus, surrounded by Karyn’s sweet essence.

<< You need not be so dramatic, Lorian. >> Soval wore an amused smile as he drew near. Here, in this otherworld of their mingled minds, the old Vulcan’s expression was open and accessible, his wise brown eyes lively. << When you are bonded, you will have the joy of Karyn’s everpresence without the need for a mawkish act of romantic self-sacrifice. >>

Lorian smiled sheepishly. << How fortunate for me. >>

<< And me, >> Karyn laughed, her voice like music to his ears. << After everything we went through to be together, I find the idea of your dying quite disagreeable. >>

<< Then I shall never die, >> Lorian pledged promptly, with a twinkle in his eye.

Soval regarded the two as a teacher would a pair of wayward students. << Now that the matter is settled, shall we proceed? >>

Karyn ducked her head in apology, but she was giggling. Lorian nodded deferentially, taking his wife’s radiant hands in his. With a tiny thrill of anticipation, he spoke aloud the words of the bonding ritual. “Karyn, nash-veh dungi-nam-tor ko-telsu k’tu, worla eh kwon-sum estuhn heh vesht estuhl.” Karyn, I would be bondmate to thee, never and always touching and touched.

Karyn squeezed his hands gently as she repeated the ritual words. “Lorian, nash-veh dungi-nam-tor ko-telsu k’tu, worla eh kwon-sum estuhn heh vesht estuhl.”

Lorian sensed Karyn’s essence merging with his, her sunny sweetness flowing through him, suffusing every part of him. Suddenly, he could see through her eyes as well as his, taste and hear and smell with both their senses, feel the beat of both their hearts. It was a breathtaking, dizzying, glorious sensation.

But Karyn, he could tell, was anxious and disquieted, unable to adjust quickly enough to the sensation of being in two bodies at once. Her essence reached toward his, just as her physical body had sought him out moments earlier. He enveloped her spirit with his own, steady and solid. << Don’t be afraid, beloved, >> he whispered into her shining ebony hair. << I won’t let go. >>

As she clung fast to him, he gradually felt her nervousness ease, giving way to wonder, then exhilaration at their new shared perspective.

Soval was with them again, an unobtrusive guide. << Now open your thoughts, each to the other, >> he told them. << Become one mind, one heart, one soul. >>

Lorian felt Karyn opening herself to him, sparkling with warmth and welcome. Memories flooded his mind, images that flickered like the surrounding candlelight, the events and emotions of her lifetime. He watched her grow up again, this time seeing her childhood adulation for him, and its gradual transformation into genuine love, albeit unrequited...nourished by hope for the war’s end, and dreams of what might be...

Suddenly Lorian was reliving the horrific loss of Charlie and Olivia Archer through Karyn’s memories, feeling her shock, her devastation, her guilt. He had never understood why she had felt such crushing guilt. Now, though, her heart gave up its last secrets to him.

I didn’t want to go with them! I wanted to be with you...

With her parents on their away mission, Karyn had spent the happiest three days of her life filling in at the helm, working with her secret, unsuspecting love Lorian. She’d hardly given her parents a second thought. Then, suddenly, Charlie and Olivia were gone.

Lorian could feel fresh pain and guilt welling up from her at the memory. He stroked her cheek soothingly. << Parents expect that one day their child will strike out on her own path, rather than follow theirs. >>

<< But I was so selfish, >> Karyn moaned brokenly.

<< If your parents were here now, >> Lorian told her gently, << I imagine they would speak to you much as Soval spoke to me at the reception today. Rather than saying you were selfish, they would say that...you lived. >>

She melted into his arms, and he felt his words settle over her like a healing balm.

He could see their shared memory of that night eight years ago in the Captain’s Mess, when he had consoled her. The sight of Karyn weeping silently in her captain’s embrace as he soothed her...it conveyed a wealth of new meaning now. << You wished to tell me that night about your feelings for me, >> he said.

She nodded, without looking at him. << But it wasn’t the right time. >>

<< Why not? >>

<< The mission was everything to you. And also...I was afraid. >> She smiled wanly. << Unrequited love is infinitely more bearable than rejection. >>

<< You made it difficult for yourself. >> He kissed her hair. << My mother once told me that secrets are a waste of energy. >>

Karyn snuggled closer to him. << Wise woman. >>

As Lorian held her, he opened himself to her, utterly and completely, offering up a century of memories. He felt the joy of her discoveries, and the pang of her sorrows, as she looked upon the sum of his life. She saw him now as a shy but brilliant child, forced by tragedy to grow up too quickly...a somber and lonely teenager who gravitated to Jonathan Archer at T’Pol’s gentle urging, accepting him as mentor, teacher, and surrogate father to help fill the void...a diligent young Chief Engineer determined to make his father proud...a solitary ship’s commander, driven by a century-old mission. Always, he was anchored by the ever-present comfort of an Archer at the helm—first Henry, then Charlie, then Karyn, who became his friend, his first officer, his confidante...

No more secrets...

You did everything you could...

No. You don’t understand. I hesitated...

Lorian felt Karyn’s stunned reaction as she finally understood the reason behind his increased isolation in the months following their failure to stop the Xindi probe...his obsessive need to find Archer’s Enterprise and make contact with Degra, and his misguided descent into theft, betrayal, even an attack on his own ancestors, until Karyn persuaded him to stand down.

<< I wish you’d told me, >> she said.

Lorian could only stand before her, penitent, his final secret laid bare. The sting of his shameful actions still pierced sharply, though he had thought them laid to rest. << It would only have distressed you. >>

He felt her compassion warring with exasperation. << So instead you let it eat away at you and drive you half-insane with guilt. >> There were tears in her eyes as she turned to Soval, a wise, steady presence. << At least you were able to straighten him out at his Starfleet debriefing. >>

Soval inclined his head in acknowledgment. << It was my privilege. >>

Lorian wasn’t sure whether Karyn wanted to hug him or strike him. He was relieved when she slipped her arms around him. << You should listen to your mother. >>

With a contrite smile, he returned her embrace. << Agreed, beloved. >>

He felt the connection between them solidify, deepening and strengthening into something without beginning or end. The lingering shackles of remorse faded, replaced by a wondrous sense of freedom and completion. Everywhere, he felt Karyn’s bright, sweet love flowing through him, just as he knew his deep, glowing devotion coursed through her. << This is the bond, >> he realized. << We are bonded. >>

Karyn’s smile lit up his heart. << We did it. >>

Soval stepped forward. << It is time to break the meld. >>

<< So soon? >> Lorian asked reluctantly.

The old Vulcan laid a hand on Lorian’s shoulder. << It is not an end, Lorian, but a beginning. >>

Karyn caressed her bondmate’s cheek. << I’ll be right here, love. >>

-- -- --

Tears slipped free from under Lorian’s closed eyes and rolled down his calm face. The sight was startling. Catherine and Chuck exchanged a concerned glance. “Is something wrong?” Catherine asked in a hushed voice.

“No,” Trip replied reassuringly. He knew what his son was experiencing, because he had gone through it himself. “The bonding meld...touching souls for the first time...it’s pretty overwhelming.”

T’Pol took his hand, and he turned to find her gazing at him with unguarded affection. She was feeling it, too—a resonant echo of their own bonding meld, with its outpouring of emotion and honesty. He kissed her fingers, but he still felt her yearning for him. With a smile, he gave her a soft kiss on the lips, feeling a wave of contentment pass through them both, like the warmth of a summer breeze.

Gently, Soval withdrew his hands from the newlyweds’ faces.

Lorian felt himself back in his own body, confined to his own senses once more, returning to awareness of the physical world. His eyes snapped open as he realized the meld had been broken. He saw Karyn kneeling across from him, felt her hands securely held in his own—

—And he could sense her still, inside his mind, a shining, joyful presence.

He saw a single tear escape one of her lovely brown eyes and course down her cheek. He was reminded of the tear she had shed before their wedding vows...but there was one sublime difference. Now he knew what was in her heart. He could feel her love, rich and full, flowing from her to him through their bond.

He reached up, capturing the droplet on his fingertip. “I feel you,” he whispered.

Karyn smiled at the very words she had said to him. She touched her fingers to his cheek, and they came away wet with his own tears. Lorian had not realized how deeply the bonding had affected him. As she brushed his tears away, the feel of her echoed through his mind. He took her hand in his, kissing her fingers, and felt the bond resonate like a harp string stroked by a musician.

“Aifa dahkuh nam-tor i’veh,” Soval proclaimed.

“These two are now one,” T’Pol translated.

Catherine let loose a squeal of delight and clapped her hands. Laughing, Archer and Trip joined the impromptu applause, as Lorian and Karyn smiled shyly.

Catherine led a general stampede to the newly-bonded couple to bestow congratulatory hugs and kisses. Chuck brought up the rear, shaking Lorian’s hand as Catherine said, “That was beautiful. Really somethin’ to see.”

“I would think observing a mind-meld would be rather uneventful,” Lorian mused.

“Well, sure, your eyes were closed,” Catherine acknowledged. “But your faces were doin’ all sorts of interesting things. What was goin’ on in there?”

Lorian spoke slowly, still savoring the experience. “We were sharing thoughts...memories...emotions. It was quite profound.”

“Is it everything you hoped?” Chuck asked. “This bond-thing?”

Lorian glanced at Karyn, standing a meter away with Archer, her back to her husband. As if reading Lorian’s mind, she looked over her shoulder at him at the same moment. They traded a smile that was so heartfelt and intimate, it made Chuck feel like a voyeur. “More than I hoped,” Lorian replied. “Far more.”

Chuck found himself smiling. Happy, even. And not the least bit queasy any more. Who’da thunk it? “I’m glad, son. For both of you.”

Archer regarded his great-granddaughter knowingly. “So all that worrying about the bond, the meld—that was for nothing, wasn’t it?”

“Insufferable smugness doesn’t become you, Papa,” Karyn scolded him. Then she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, catching him completely by surprise.

“What’s this for?” he asked.

“In the meld—I saw you,” she said happily. “The great-grandfather I never knew—I have memories of him now, Lorian’s memories. It’s wonderful.”

Archer had that strange feeling of schizophrenia again...as well as envy, for the other Archer. He was getting tired of wanting to be that guy. “From the look on your face, I’d say the other fellow did all right,” he said.

“You did great,” Karyn corrected him, with an enthusiasm that made him smile in spite of himself. “I can’t wait to tell you some stories.”

And give me a complex, Archer thought. Oh, the irony.

Trip and T’Pol stayed in the background with Soval following their quick conveyance of congratulations. They knew precisely how Lorian and Karyn felt at this moment: disoriented to be back in the real world after the safe haven of the meld, overwhelmed with thoughts of each other, wanting simply to be left alone to explore the bond. But the humans, of course, couldn’t know that.

After five minutes of Family felicitations with no indication of conclusion, Soval took action. “Regrettably, I must return to the embassy,” he announced.

Trip took his cue. “We can give you a lift, Ambassador.” He nudged Archer. “Can’t we, Pappy?”

Archer looked pained, and Soval arched an eyebrow. “I see the commander’s impertinence with me is not anomalous behavior.”

Archer glowered at Trip. “Far from it.”

“Well, the boy is young,” Chuck put in.

Catherine wordlessly waved good-bye to Lorian and Karyn as she began herding the rest of the Family toward the door.

“Wisdom will come,” Soval predicted sagely.

Trip looked askance at the three men. “Now wait just a damn minute—!”

“And courtesy, presumably,” T’Pol added.

Trip glared open-mouthed at her. Et tu, bondmate? She said nothing, but he could hear her silvery laughter inside his mind.

“One can only hope that T’Pol will prove a positive influence,” Soval continued.

Archer gave Karyn a farewell wink as he led the Family out, with Trip at his heels like a misunderstood puppy. “I’m gonna remember this,” the engineer warned. “The next time you’re up on the bridge with a Klingon battle cruiser halfway up Enterprise’s ass, and you need another miracle from your ol’ buddy Trip, I’m gonna remember this night very clearly...”

Lorian shut the door behind them.

He turned to his wife. The candles cast an ethereal glow on Karyn’s upswept ebony hair and iridescent blue gown. She was heartstoppingly lovely. But he knew he was seeing her with more than his eyes now, because of the bond. He had the sense that their love had become a tangible thing...visible, tactile, and ever so sensual.

As if reading his thoughts, she said softly, “I was afraid we might not have this.”

“Afraid?” He could sense it now, a shadow of past unsettlement, now put to rest. “You hid it well.”

“Oh, I hoped,” she said quickly. “Ever since you spoke to your parents about the bond, and I realized it was what you wanted...” She looked down. “But these flashes I’ve had of your emotions...I kept thinking they were some sort of accident, as if I were getting a secret glimpse of something I wasn’t supposed to see. And each time you faded away, I thought it might be the last time.” Her eyes rose to meet his. “It won’t stop, will it?”

“It will never stop,” he said, his baritone voice warm and reassuring. “The bond is always.”

He felt a surge of affection from her. She pulled out the clasp that held her hair in its elegant French twist, and her dark locks fell free, tumbling down her shoulders. She had let her hair grow since their arrival here; Lorian found the added length quite becoming.

Even now, with her standing a meter away, he felt the bond pulsing between them with each breath, each heartbeat.

Karyn smiled faintly. “What now?”

Lorian remembered those same words, spoken long ago, the night they first began courting. He returned her smile. “I have a very good idea.”

Her velvet-brown eyes flickered invitingly in the candlelight. “It appears the challenge will be tearing each other’s clothes off without tearing the clothes.”

“Surely we’ll be able to exercise the necessary restraint,” he said, in a reasonable voice.

“I’m not feeling very restrained at the moment.” Karyn came nearer, her skirt rustling softly as she moved. Slowly, she undid the fastenings of his jacket. It felt to Lorian as if her fingers were tiny flames radiating a delicious heat that seemed to flow through him. She slipped the jacket off his broad shoulders, letting it slide down his smoothly muscled arms into her waiting hands. She smelled of lilacs and sweet perfume, light and heady. With care, she laid the jacket aside.

As she turned to him once more, he caught the lacings at the front of her tight-fitting bodice and untied the delicate blue bow. The bodice fell open as the lacings came loose, freeing her breasts almost completely from confinement. Lorian shivered with desire as he saw a hint of rosy areolae peeking out from behind the fabric...and then he watched with startled wonder as Karyn trembled in response, though he had not so much as touched her.

“That’s nice,” she breathed.

“What?”

Her cheeks flushed a deep rose as she shyly smiled. “Feeling what you feel, as you look at me.”

She traced her fingers lightly over the smooth satin of his tunic. Lorian had a sudden, startlingly vivid image of himself through her eyes—but it was more than that. He could feel her desire for him, simmering and building, fed by her view of his strong, graceful body, by the feel of him under her fingers. It was strange to view himself as an object of such passion...but infinitely pleasing to know that these feelings sprang from the heart of the woman he loved.

The bond was crackling between them now, sparking hungrily. Karyn moved closer, her entire body subtly trembling. “What I’m feeling for you...it’s as if I want to climb inside you.” Suddenly, her face lit with a realization. “I felt this from you on the night of the pon farr.”

Lorian hesitated, uncertain—but before he could draw back, she caught his face in her hands, smiling at him. “No, not the madness. Just the desire...the love.”

With relief, he happily sank again into that bottomless pool of her devotion, feeling it all around him, enveloping him completely. And still he wanted more, needed more. “Yes,” he said softly. “Pon farr, without the madness.” He felt her breath, sweet and silky on his lips. “My father told me before the ceremony that after we were bonded, I should take care not to kiss you until we were alone.”

Karyn raised an intrigued eyebrow. “Did he say why?”

Her nearness was making him pleasantly dizzy. His skin still tingled from her touch. The bond was singing in his ears. “Not precisely. I had the impression that he wished for us to discover the reason ourselves.”

She gave him a suggestive smile. “It’s not as if we’ve never kissed.”

He felt himself drawing nearer to her, like a magnet, as his craving mingled with hers through the bond. “True,” he murmured. “I don’t quite...” Lightly, he brushed his lips against hers.

And the bond ignited.

Suddenly he was holding her, kissing her deeply, trying to reach that exquisite oneness they had captured before inside the meld, when the bond had taken hold. Karyn pressed against him with equal urgency, welcoming his thrusting tongue, his hands tight around her waist, his hips rubbing insistently against hers as he felt himself growing hard and hungry for her. They both moaned as the heat rose around them, melting them together, hot and throbbing.

He couldn’t get close enough to her—he needed to be closer. He surged against her, backing her up against the wall, never losing contact with her lips, her mouth, her tongue. He pulled her bodice open, cupping her full breasts in his hands, trapping her erect nipples between his fingers, flinching as he felt the hot spark of her pleasure flaring through them both.

She was whimpering and moaning now, nipping at his lips, squirming as he pleasured her breasts and rubbed himself against her core. Impatiently, she grabbed at her skirt, pulling the yards of shimmering fabric up around her waist, until Lorian felt her naked skin against his erection. She slung one perfect leg over his hip, wrapping it around him, urging him closer.

He reached down, fumbling with the clasp of his slacks, with his briefs. Then they were down, out of the way, and he was pushing inside her, feeling the wet heat of her. Karyn groaned, a low, primal sound that Lorian felt as well as heard. She threw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer as she wrapped her other leg around him. But it wasn’t enough. He had to go—

“Deeper,” she panted softly against his cheek. “Deeper.”

He hooked his arms under her legs, rotating her hips, then pinned her against the wall as he buried himself to the hilt inside her. With a wanton cry of pure pleasure, she pulled her knees higher as he began driving in and out of her.

They were eye to eye now, moving in unison, the bond fanning their desire, burning brightly as they rose rapidly toward release. Karyn’s pleasure felt entirely different to Lorian from his own, and yet he found it just as enticing. They were as mirror images, complementing one another, their shared emotions fitting together as perfectly as their joined bodies.

“Faster,” she pleaded. “Harder.” There was an edge of need to her voice that sent a carnal jolt through him. He took her hips more firmly and increased his pace, thrusting deep, rubbing roughly against her swollen clit with each stroke. She held on tightly to him, shuddering with her mounting pleasure, her breasts pressed against his satin-clad chest. He felt the friction of her erect nipples against his body, and from inside hers, simultaneously.

Then, all at once, she crested and exploded into orgasm, her whimpers becoming cries of rapture as she bucked uncontrollably in his arms. As her inner walls contracted around him, he followed her, groaning in sweet release as he came inside her. His pleasure was so intense that the room spun around him, leaving him blind to all but her essence, her soul, her love echoing through the bond.

They collapsed against the wall, clinging to each other, still trembling with aftershocks of pleasure. Less than two minutes had passed since their lips had first touched.

“What the hell was that?” Karyn managed at last.

Lorian took in a deep lungful of air, trying to calm his breathing. “Evidently it was the mating bond manifesting itself.”

Her mouth fell open. “Wow.”

He thought her brevity of words most eloquent, somehow. “Indeed.”

She began to giggle uncontrollably, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Lorian found her quite adorable. He laughed softly himself as he nuzzled her cheek.

“Oh my God!” she said against his throat. “Can you imagine that happening with everybody still here?”

Lorian mentally thanked his father for warning them to wait. “I would rather not imagine it, if you don’t mind.”

Karyn looked down at her skirt, still bunched up around her waist. “The priceless heirloom clothes didn’t get in our way after all.”

“It is likely they will, and quite soon, if we do not divest ourselves of them,” Lorian remarked.

Karyn gave him a sultry smile. “I like the sound of that.” She unwrapped her legs from his waist, and he set her down. “Very well, Mr. Tucker,” she said. “Let’s get naked.”

Lorian felt a swell of reawakening desire at her words. “As you wish, Mrs. Tucker.” Together, they headed for the bedroom.

Continue to Part Ten, the Epilogue

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Nine of you have made comments

Beautiful chapter, looking forward to the next one. Hope it will focus a bit more on TnT.

I really like this chapter talking about the bon ding and minmelds it was nicely done. The look into Karyn's and Lorian's thought blending together as one was fascinating.

HR... after doing the skit AND hugging Connor THREE times this weekend, my libido's been on overdrive. Unfortunately, I arrived back home too late last night to do anything about it. This story, I'll have you know, did NOT help, LOL! I'm reading this on my LUNCH hour, and now I have to go back to work! Argh!

*deep cleansing breath*

Lovely story. I thank you, my dear... and I venture to say that my husband will soon be thanking you as well.

"...and the bond ignited." Boy, did it ever!

Again, beautiful installment - wonderful interactions - poor Chuck, it ain't easy being the Stinker in the family - Soval's insights on bonding were touching, "an exercise in willing vulnerability."

Wow, fantastically hot!!! Love your description of the bond!

OH SMOKING *HOTTT* This is one of my favourite stories on this site, and I will follow it to the end, so please, from the bottom of my little *enterprised* etched heart, please contine, cos HR, DAT WAS SMOKING HOT!

"Wow!"

Uh WOW!!! That was Frackin HOT!!! HR ya out did your self there. Not really much to say considering that was nearly 90% smutt. LOL

But God I loved it. Sorry It took me over a week to get to this, But for some reason I just wasnt quite in the mood fr smutt till now, Weird I know.

Any whos loved al the fear an angst that Lorian an Karyn were both were feelin concernin the possiblity that they wouldnt be able to have the Bond. That was perfectly understandable, considering pure Vulcan Bond mates rarely show affection for their mates outside of the us of the Bond, They were facing the difficulty of never really beining tofully express how they felt for one another (Well Lorian was). But thank God it worked out.

An LOL. Poor Trip. Man their all gona regret teasin him. I wonder how he will "get even" with T'pol. I hope its dirty. :evil:

Well thanks for writin this HR, Now if you excuse me, I have to go take a long cold shower.

Rasputin is now drenched in sweat---either from the shots of cheap vodka or from the scenes of this story he just finished reading. Oh sweet memories!