" Really, I can go back. It's not too late…"

His voice comes out deeper than it has been all evening; a husky baritone that makes her sway. " Would it make a difference if I preferred you to stay?"

Nyota looks up at him then with her teeth running over her bottom lip in temptation. Would it?

Spock pulls her away from the door and holds her as if he can't believe it for himself. His thumbs are making small circles at her sides over the fabric of her shirt while his fingers push eagerly at her back. He's making this difficult because he's making it easy.

He's still looking at her with the same face he made after they kissed and melded, an expression that's both winsome and mischievous. The latter isn't something that Nyota thought she'd ever attribute to him but subconsciously she knows she wished to. He's careful not to touch their skin together. He wants this decision to be entirely her own with no thoughts of coercion.

" Spock…" she sighs, in growing defeat. His hands easily pull her body against his and travel along her back. They transverse every cardinal direction. north along her shoulders, back along the east and western plains of her waist and south, hovering at the swell there with palpable anticipation.

C'mon and go. You know what might happen if you stay.

Oh, she knows which why it's so hard to leave. She wants all of what might happen, but she's yet to damn all the consequences and throw caution to the wind.

It's late and she doesn't want to go but she knows she should. The evening was pleasant, there night has been enlightening and she has to wonder, he makes her wonder, what would come to pass if she were to stay until morning?

The taste of tonight's tea and the sweetness of it from his mouth is on her tongue as a reminder of her lusty sobriety. There would be nothing influencing her otherwise should she stay outside of her want too. And the way the rest of Spock's body is unnaturally still helps her to see that he's trying his damndest not to add to it by showing how much he wants her to stay with him.

She takes another breath and sighs again, flicking her eyes to the chronometer on his apartment's control panel and back to his glassy, black gaze. " Yes."

Okay or maybe just a few more hours, but yes. Words and their meaning were important to the both of them. Standard was neither one's first language but in learning it the purity of the definition was maintained.

Spock releases his breath with what one could only interpret as one of relief and pulls her closer still. She rises up on her toes and joins their mouths for another kiss and feels the sweetness of his mouth rekindle along her tongue.

In a clumsy dance of footsteps they make their way to the bedroom and fall upon with a synchronized umph. Their kissing becomes more hungry then and Nyota's adore dampens when one of his teeth nic at her lip.

Spock sits up in mortification, looking back at her in horror that he would hurt her when she pulls him back down with a shush. " It's okay, it's okay. Come here."

He huffs in frustration at himself and once more as she kisses the pout on his face with giggle. She continues to do so until she coaxes him back into kissing her but even then she feels his careful manipulation of his mouth as not to harm her again.

Still dressed in through clothing they lie on top of the duvet with their hands trying to find a place to settle. Once he's comfortable again, Nyota breaks the kiss and sucks on her lip.

Spock looks at her patiently as her eyes run over her face. She takes a breath and holds it, contemplating her question before posing it aloud. " If I wanted to meld with you again before we went to sleep, do you think you would be able to?"

She tugs at the collar of his shirt from underneath his sweater and hopes she's said nothing to offend him with asking. She wasn't sure how melding and his telepathy in general worked beyond the nature of how it was initiated. Could he do it only once a day or did it have a recovery time like after a guy...ahem, well, it's safe to say she is curious and doesn't know.

Spock's eyes narrow into a smile as he inhales and places a hand at the back of her head. " I can do one better...if you are at all interested in trying?"

" Oh I'm interested." she enthuses, shuffling closer to him on the bed. He simultaneously pulls her forward with his hand as a guide and places the fingers of the other along her face. " Do you have any ablutions or bathroom activities you wish to perform before you sleep?"

" No," she whispers softly. He nods and actually smiles at her then as he finds a comfortable positioning for himself. He murmurs quietly into the air and then into her head as he cast himself inside of her.

They sigh silently and relish the touch of Nyota's fingers as she spreads them over the tops of his shoulders. It's different this time. He's not seeking to view anything and she's not looking to show him. They're together in the vacant spaces of one another's minds and sinking into it as they grow warmer and settle.

She doesn't remember falling asleep but she recalls waking to the knowledge that Spock was observing her. He was looking at without his eyes and with an equal vulnerability. His non-judgemental awareness of her, made her open further until their eyes eventually opened to the reality of their senses.

She sighs slowly and Spock blinks at her longingly. It's earlier than either would typically get up but he figures she would not wish to be seen crossing the campus grounds in what was obviously nightwear. She thanks him with a lingering kiss made longer by his reciprocation and eventually leaves him for the door and the cold, quiet morning outside.

He was insistent on seeing her out but she convinces him or rather tells him that she would prefer to see herself out. She wants to be alone with her thoughts. She wants to take time to see how it feels so she can compare it to the closeness she felt when he was in her mind.

At no point did they take off their clothes or give attention to anatomy that would have been pleasurable. That being said, last night was the most intimate encounter that she's ever had.

Somehow she knows, the same goes for him.