A/N: I thought that to decribe better my Best Served Cold 'verse I need to add some more stories. So, here we are. We start with Spock and Uhura, because I think there is angsty dynamics to be discovered.

Disclaimer: I own or won nothing, just this 'verse is my own. But to have a tall ship and a star to steer her by...!

Second Best

The trial with Kirk had been the worst thing ever which happened to any of them - everything they ever did (or didn't do) pulled on the light, examined and criticised so much that more often then not she went to sleep in tears.

Part of her wondered how many times the same happened to Kirk.

Ever since they chased Kirk out of Starfleet, the Enterprise was never the same - relationships strained, the atmosphere distrusting and overly formal; all in complete opposite of what it used to be like.

Spock took it bad; he acted even more Vulcan-like than he did back at Academy, and when she saw his suffering, hidden as it was, she told him to break it off with Kirk, once and for all. The woman had no shame - sending him emails so very often, about pregnancy which came from her infidelity. Leonard and Admiral Pike kept receiving the same emails - together with them, they came up with solution. Time to threaten that woman with charges of harassment pressed, if she won't cease attempts at contact. And the emails stopped at last.

"It will hurt, Spock," she whispered to him one evening, "but maybe you will finally start to heal after all of this."

For a moment which stretched for like forever he just gazed at her intently, his eyes stabbing into hers as if he wanted to see the motivation behind that sentence, before he nodded. "I believe that would be for the best. I shall contact the Elders tomorrow morning."

In a few days, they were called to New Vulcan, bringing new supplies, and Spock was meeting the Elders. She was the one who meanwhile had been filling the necessary paperwork about the marriage being dissolved - because breaking off a Vulcan bond was recognized as divorce by Starfleet, after all.

Things were much calmer once the bond had been broken, as Spock finally didn't have to block it all the time (that thing was actually pretty tiring, she's told, and had been part of the reason why Spock had been more Vulcan-like than he used to be), and soon she found herself circling around Spock (and Spock circling around her) again. Both of them were more mature than they were before - but before they could really hit it off, McCoy stormed into Spock's quarters one day and threw a PADD at him.

Jane Tabitha Kirk - Unfairly Dishonorably Discharged! Seal of Federation, offering only the freshest of news!

She wanted to send Kirk mail with telling her how much she crossed the line now - but when her message had been returned by lawyer's warning and a summon to a trial, part of her thought there is trouble ahead. It still didn't hit the home fully, until they heard what they were accused of and she stood and said "not guilty". Because sure as hell she was not guilty. Only Chekov stood and pleaded guilty, earning himself several sharp glares, which he ignored, as he intently stared at the accuser.

Part of her would never believe how much dirty laundry can be aired in trial of decade. No, in trial of century, if not more. She is once again reminded of inappropriateness of her former relationship with Spock, back when they were still at Starfleet Academy, and it also makes her remember why she broke it off the first time.

The closing speech delivered by their nemesis was coup de grâce, she thought, and hearing the verdict finally closed the gaping wound they caused in their stupidity. Guilty, and to be grounded for several years, their careers damaged that it would be quite a surprise, if they ever recovered. Only Chekov had slightly better verdict, mostly for the fact that he never said he was not guilty, and part of her envied him, because unlike them, he got back in the black relatively soon. Milk-runs mostly, but at least something...

They remained at Earth for several years, while Kirk and her new hubby had been jumping all around the galaxy. When they were finally allowed back in the black, they were desperate to get off terra prima, back among the stars that called to them each night. She even hooked with Scotty - the man sure knew how to make woman feel appreciated, be it sandwiches prepared by himself or heartfelt compliments and declarations, and she thought yes, this was the man she could picture herself with for the rest of her life.

It took just one mission for her life to do once again a 180 degree turn.

They were on one of those boring away missions, where the posibility of any contact with natives is - in all possibility - not going to happen, so having a communication officer with you is mostly to have them breathe the "real" air for once. Trust it to be their luck that it went south pretty quickly. Ion storms sure happened more often, when the Enterprise crew was concerned - and this one had been even more violent than usual. During the second week they were stuck on the planet, Spock's pon farr hit and she had been the only woman on the away team. And while Spock tried to make her understand that he was not worthy of her sacrifice, she was sure that she was not about to let him die.

It came as a hard slap in the face, when the flames of his pon farr expired, and they found out that the bond which created itself between them during their... mating couldn't be broken without both of them losing their minds in the process, as Spock's mind had already been too damaged by the bonds broken in the past (and one of them had been her doing, little voice whispered in her head. Your doing.)

She loved Spock once, and she was sure he loved her back in his own way. But during time, they drifted apart, broke up, moved on and fell in love. But now, now they were forced together. Forced to be each other's second best for the rest of their lives.