Title: Overwhelming Darkness
Author: Cait (Broomsticks_and_Medallions)
Fandom: Star Trek
Characters: Nyota Uhura, Spock, Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Pairing: Spock/Uhura
Summary: A thousand voices screaming in her head and she couldn't breath. Nyota Uhura. Xenolinguistics. The voices overtook her until all was black.
Word Count: 1231
Disclaimer: Love Star Trek. Don't own it.
Notes: After writing Recollection of a Near Death Experience, I felt as though I needed to write another Reboot fic. However, there's only so many recollection fics one can write. I didn't want to write my Kirk/OC fic (so cliché), so I decided I'd try my hand at canon shipping. And it's partly a gift for lj user="kousuke_blade". With her permission, I used the ending phrase.
A thousand voices screaming in her head and she couldn't breath. Nyota Uhura. Xenolinguistics. The voices overtook her until all was black.
It should have been a normal simulation. Spock was running it, as a way to test her fluency in alien languages. As Uhura climbed gracefully into the simulation deck, she smiled serenely at Spock. It was per her request that he direct the simulation. He was, after all, her preferred professor . . . She must disregard the harbored feelings, for what could ever come of loving a Vulcan? When he did not respond to her, Uhura averted her eyes and entered the deck.
"Ready in here, Commander." She took her seat at the communications board, prepared to translate the incoming signals. It started off slowly – English, Swahili, and other languages she had proven adept in. As they sped up, she keyed the transmissions flawlessly. Harder languages came up in different dialects, but still, Uhura never ceased. They, they sped up. Commander Spock was challenging her, to avoid appearance of favoritism and test her knowledge. But to what cost? As Uhura rapidly decoded the transmissions, her heart rate sped up.
". . .-right?" Uhura barely heard Spock's voice. Instead, the many different languages rang through her ears. She transmitted the signals through the speakers for better audio translation. They overlapped. They screamed. It began to beat down upon her mind until she could no longer discern whose voice was which language. In fact, the screaming melted into one until Uhura could no longer hear. It was silent – a ringing silence as all went black.
Spock watched Uhura's eyes begin to spin. He shouted to her: "Nyota, are you alright?!" And he watched her collapse. Spock keyed in the pass phrase to open the door and ran to her faint body lying on the ground. Immediately, he checked her pulse. Weak. He allowed himself a moment to stroke the side of her face before he continued worrying. This was irresponsible. He had placed her in a far too advanced simulation without the Council's approval because she had asked him to. He always gave her what she asked, demanded, because she cared more than anyone else . . . and because he cared for her. So he could not take her down to the Starfleet medical bay. She would need to be treated in secret.
He carefully lifted her, placing her limp head on his shoulder. Spock had taken a brief medical course in basics . . . then intermediates. He would know enough to resuscitate her, if he could only discern what exactly was wrong with her. His dark eyes gazed fondly upon her serene face as he carried her to his dormitory in the faculty housing. It was the middle of the night, so they were the only two in sight. He moved with gentle urgency. Though Uhura was breathing, Spock was unsure of how to fix her, how to bring her back.
As he pushed through his door, Spock felt Uhura moving softly. Her head found its place in his chest and she pulled herself closer to his body. As his cheeks flushed green, the Vulcan carried her to his bed. He attempted to place her on the bed, but her arms suddenly wrapped around his neck, so he had no choice but to sit with her in his arms. After all, he couldn't risk hurting her even more. As her breathing evened, he extracted himself from her arms and laid her on the bed. It was as though she was experiencing a nightmare . . . but he couldn't awaken her. Still, he sat beside her for some time, fondly grazing her hair with his hand. She was truly exquisite, in more ways than one.
It was still black. Nyota Uhura saw nothing, heard only screams. She pushed her way through the blackness which overpowered her vision, but to no avail. There was no light and nothing but the echoing screeching resounding in her ears. But she felt something wrap around her, constricting her. Fatigue overpowered her and Uhura couldn't move. She tried to think back to when there was light. The simulation. Spock! Something had happened to her, but she couldn't tell, or see, what.
She could barely move, but at least it was no longer ice cold. Though blinded, Uhura felt heat upon her own motionless body. Her face went icy, so s he burrowed it into the soft warmth. Suddenly, she had shifted and the "ropes" were no longer about her body. Uhura felt herself descending into the freezing cold once more and threw her arms around the only source of heat. It was all she had the strength of doing. After a few moments, her breathing had evened – she felt safe. It was in that instant that her arms relaxed and the prior warmth disappeared. Her body limply collapsed muscles weak. Uhura knew not why she had any control over her body and that frightened her far more than the overwhelming blackness.
"Are you out of your Vulcan mind?!" he shouted as he rushed to the limp body of Nyota Uhura lying on the bed. Leonard "Bones" McCoy was the only person in the medical bay when Spock went to plead for assistance. "She needs medical help, Commander!" He was checking her temperature, stripping the bed sheets. Though she felt cold in her mind, Uhura's body was overheating and her uniform saturated with sweat.
"That's why you're here," Spock let out softly, retrieving a robe for Uhura. He handed it to Bones. "Please do anything that will assist her." From there, he went to his deck outside, floors up from the ground. As he sat upon the concrete flooring like a child, he leaned against his wall, burying his face in his hands. Spock was ashamed that he had allowed her injury under his instruction. His breathing quickened and he knew he was compromised.
While Spock let out his anguish in the privacy of his deck, Bones treated Uhura inside. She slowly awakened, feverish, to a blurry room. She would see the outline of a man and faintly queried: "Where am I?"
"Being treated for overexertion." She was disappointed when it wasn't Spock's voice. However, she was glad to know that her psyche wasn't destroyed. Rather, she had overexerted herself mentally and physically. She struggled to stand as her vision came into focus. Bones play the part of her crutches, wrapping a heavy blanket around her shoulders.
Her voice was still faint as she demanded, "Where's Spock?" Bones didn't answer, but supported her as they moved toward the door. He buzzed it open and let Uhura go through, remaining in the room to clean up her saturated clothing and sheets.
Uhura sat beside him, putting her arm around him. Quietly, she whispered, "I don't blame you." But he wouldn't look at her. So she cupped her hand on his hand and turned his face toward her. "I could never blame you." Pulling his lips toward hers, she kissed him. It was soft and gentle, right for both of them. When they disconnected, he buried his face in her shoulder. With his arms wrapped around her body, Spock allowed the tears to flow. He never wanted to hurt her. And in her arms, she cradled him like a child.