Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek or the characters.
"Logic's Captive"
A Star Trek Fanfiction by IllogicalWoman
Dedicated to: ™PυяεLσgιc;
Rain poured relentlessly from the sky as the cadets of Starfleet Academy scurried about the campus to try and find shelter. Lightening danced across the sky and was accompanied by a grumbling tune of thunder. It appeared as though most student and teacher activity would take place indoors that evening. Nyota Uhura dashed through the courtyard that lead from the Library and to the Linguistics Department; struggling to maintain her fast pace with the numerous study guides in her arms (and the puddles littering the concrete path also made walking without slipping quite difficult). The rain slipped effortlessly through her dark locks as she waited for the doors to slide open. Once they complied with her request for entrance, she entered the building; which was quiet in comparison to the weather outdoors.
The door slid shut behind her, and the cadet pressed her back against it and exhaled sharply. The storm had hit San Francisco so suddenly that virtually everyone was entirely unprepared. She attempted to pull her hand through her hair – failing miserably because the sudden saturation of her dark locks caused it to tie itself in numerous knots. Stupid hair. Why couldn't it just fix itself? The sound of her heels clicking against the tiled floor joined the sound of the rain pelting against the window as she trotted over to the ladies' room. She set down her books on the counter and looked over at her reflection, gasping. She could not tear her eyes away from the sight she was met with.
"Oh wow!" she exclaimed. Her melodious laughter echoed off of the walls as her eyes met her reflection. Her mascara was now melting from her eyes and down her cheeks. All right; touchup time. Uhura whipped out the tools that Gaila had provided her with and began to work at her appearance. Eventually, she deemed herself presentable. Nyota never wore much makeup; she learned all of her tricks from her Orion roommate. Gaila was always so adamant about looking her best and being the center of attention. Nyota didn't mind being in her shadow.
She exited the washroom, and walked straight into the chest of another cadet. He made a noise of surprise inside of his throat, and Nyota stepped away from him. She had no idea who he was; she was avoiding looking at his face. Instead, she focused on the pile of books that were now spread onto the hallway floor.
"Sorry about that…" Nyota apologized sweetly, bending down to scoop them up. A pair of hands moved down to help her, and she finally looked up; horrified with who was standing in front of her. There, smirking triumphantly down at her was none other than James T. Kirk himself.
"Well," he spoke, "you're a hard girl to track down. Even on this small campus, I've had a hard time 'accidentally' running into you, but this…This will do." He clearly referred to her actually accidentally running into him. Wordlessly, Uhura got up and headed for the nearest sanctuary – or the nearest unlocked classroom. She didn't mind that a few of her books remained on the floor of the hall. She'd come back for them. She hustled into a classroom and threw her books down onto the desk. Kirk was calling her name from the hall; obviously in hot pursuit.
Uhura, using her quick thinking, dove under the desk dramatically…and just in the nick of time. She listened as the door slid open and Kirk scanned the room. He was breathing heavily and it disgusted her. The door slid shut again, but Uhura didn't dare move from her hiding spot. This was fortunate however, because the door slid open again. Nyota pressed her back against the desk, praying that Kirk would just give up and leave. Then…
"Cadet Uhura?" Someone spoke her name; causing her to spastically jump up and hit her head on the top. She grunted in pain and raised her hands to nurse the wound. Who on earth could possible know she was down there? A shadow sauntered over to the opening of the desk, and then she was soon looking into the confused eyes of Commander Spock. "May I inquire as to what you are doing down there?" he asked; his voice causing her to jump up again (but less high this time).
"Um…" Uhura sounded; crawling out from underneath the desk, "I was…hiding." She spoke simply. She was rewarded with a cocked eyebrow from the Vulcan Commander, but he did not say anything to scold her, or question her motives. He didn't need to. She knew that Spock undoubtedly found her response to be childish; and she was accurate in assuming so. Spock wondered who she could possibly have been hiding from. What logical purpose did hiding beneath his desk serve? He rationalized that, perhaps she was in distress which thereby resulted in her seeking refuge beneath his desk. If he were not a Vulcan, his natural reaction to the thought of someone wanting to harm Cadet Uhura would be anger for the attacker.
"Being that it is my duty to ensure the safety of my students, I am obligated to inquire as to why you were hiding beneath my desk." Spock indirectly ordered. Nyota had been nervously playing with the sleeves of her jacket; compelled by how the buttons sparkled in the sunlight that poured in through the window. She looked up at him for the first time, and saw that concern had laced itself in his dark eyes. It was the closest thing to an emotional response that Nyota had ever seen from him. She now felt so guilty that she had to confess she'd only been hiding beneath the desk to avoid a switched-on Jim Kirk. "Cadet?" Spock's voice came again, "Your cheeks are turning red." Oh, how kind of him to point that out. "Are you certain you're not ill? I can alert the medics and-"
"No!" she exclaimed; the volume of her voice startling herself as much as it did, him. Nyota cleared her throat and softened her tone, "No, I'm fine." In order to safe herself any more embarrassment, Uhura quickly thought of a tiny fib to explain her presence in Spock's room after hours. She did not want to come off as a creepy stalker that was installing cameras under his desk to film him while he worked. She spied her books that lay discarded on his desk, "I came in here because I wanted to…get some extra help with the unit on Romulan Dialects. Then I saw you weren't here, so I thought it would be fun to…surprise you."
Well, at least she didn't come off as a stalker.
Nyota bit down on her tongue to keep her emotions at bay; watching as Spock's impossibly straight posture straightened even further and he raised an eyebrow.
"I…see." He responded. Spock walked off the strange comment and headed toward his desk. His hands ghosted over the cover of one of Nyota's notebooks, and the cadet watched, transfixed, as he opened it and read the first page. Fascinating. It seemed Cadet Uhura was spending a lot of time tracking ships in far-off solar systems, and had even gotten a few readings in the Klingon and the third Romulan dialects. The handwriting trailed off of the lines at times, and was very roughly translated. Raising an eyebrow, Spock turned to face her again. As soon as he locked eyes with her, Nyota stiffened. "Is this why you wanted to ask for extra help?"
Nyota had no idea which book he was looking at; so she was unsure as to what he was referring to. But, in order to play along, she smiled and nodded. "You caught me." She stood on her tip toes to try and get a glance at which notebook he was looking at. Spock closed the book before she could get a good look at it and then picked it up and held it out to her. When she reached out to take it, he immediately let go.
"Bring this with you; we'll go to the library." He instructed, heading toward the door. Nyota's eyes widened. The library? Again?
"Now?" she asked. Spock turned back to her.
"You did come here to seek my help, did you not?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow. There was something about the lightness of his tone that gave the cadet the impression that he was teasing her. Nyota laughed nervously and trotted over to him.
"Right." She waited for him to open the door, "Let's go, then."