Author's note:

I'm in the middle of writing a long, plot-heavy story and felt the need for a fluff break, so I dashed this off. I thought other Spock fangirls might enjoy it, in spite of (or because of :-D) the fluffiness.

This story takes place during the second year of the first five-year mission.

Spock's Appeal

by WeirdLittleStories

Once the last colonist had been vaccinated, the Enterprise's medical team breathed a sigh of relief. Aldebaran Eight-Day Fever had no cure, but the vaccine was extremely effective at preventing the disease. The Federation had rushed the vaccine to the colony at warp six as soon as a case of the Fever had been discovered there, and a combination of quarantine and vaccination ensured that only the index case would die.

McCoy and Chapel had given the vaccinations while Uhura contacted every single colonist and ensured that each of them had an appointment with the vaccinators. Kirk had schmoozed with Anthony Rinaldi, the colony's leader, fielding his demands, soothing his fears, and ensuring that the colony's government understood and approved of every detail of the vaccinations. Once the last vaccination had been given, the four Enterprise officers felt that strange combination of exhilaration and exhaustion that often accompanies the successful completion of a project.

Rinaldi insisted on a celebratory round of drinks for all of them at the colony's lone tavern, and the alcohol hit the weary officers hard. As soon as Rinaldi left, Kirk looked around the table. "You've all worked hard today, and I'm proud of you. Now, which shall it be? Should I buy you another round of drinks, or beam us all back to our beds?"

McCoy yawned. "How about the best of both worlds? You owe us a round of drinks the next time we go on shore leave, and tonight we get to go to bed right away?"

Chapel and Uhura murmured their agreement, and Kirk smiled. "Suits me." He pulled out a communicator and called the Enterprise, requesting immediate beam up.

"Spock here, Captain. I regret that we cannot beam you up as yet. When Mr. Kyle attempted to retrieve the medical equipment, it arrived as melted slag, a state in which we do not wish to retrieve personnel. Mr. Scott has located the problem and is currently repairing the transporter; he expects to have it operational in approximately one hour. He suggested that I tell you to 'have a wee dram while ye cool yer heels,' presumably because he believed that the waiting period would pass more agreeably in that fashion."

Kirk laughed into his communicator. "Spock, I never knew you could do a Scottish accent! Is there no end to your talents?"

"My talents are, in fact, finite, though I do not believe that you have yet witnessed them in their entirety. I regret that instantaneous transporter repair is not among them."

"We'd thought about having another drink, anyway, so we'll go do that. Let us know when the transporter's fixed. I know I don't have to tell you to test it thoroughly."

"Indeed not. I will contact you as soon as the transporter becomes operational. Spock out."

Kirk turned back to the others. "Well, you heard that. Sounds like you get to have that drink sooner, rather than later." He signaled the bartender for another round.

Chapel turned to Uhura. "Did you hear Spock do a Scottish accent!"

Uhura smiled at her friend. "I thought his voice already sounded as much like liquid sex as it was possible for a voice to sound, but adding a Scottish accent to that ... oh, my!"

Chapel nodded in agreement, and McCoy turned to the two women. "What is it with women and that Vulcan, anyway? Half the women on the ship get this dreamy look on their faces when he walks by, and I just don't understand it."

Uhura smiled at the doctor. "Don't worry about it, Len; you probably have to be a straight woman or a gay man to understand."

Kirk jumped in. "Actually, Bones isn't the only one who wonders what this fascination is that women seem to have with Spock. We aren't just teasing, here; we'd honestly like to know."

Chapel laughed. "You just think that every woman in the world should fall at your feet!"

All three of them laughed at Kirk, who grinned back at them, unrepentant.

McCoy said, "I don't think every woman should fall at my feet; will you tell me?"

Chapel looked at her boss consideringly. "You really want to know, don't you? I don't know if we can answer the question completely, though; after all, we only have an hour."

McCoy blinked. "Telling me why you find Spock so attractive would take more than an hour?"

Uhura said, "At least. But maybe we can hit the high points in an hour." She looked at Chapel. "Do you want to start, or should I?"

"You start," Chapel said. "I find this topic slightly embarrassing, so I want to be a little bit drunker before I weigh in."

Uhura laughed. "Well, drink up, girl; I'm not gonna face down the Captain and the CMO all by myself."

Chapel smiled, then took a large swallow of her drink, and the others followed suit. Uhura turned to McCoy. "I can talk about his sterling character, his magnificent mind, his endearing personality, or his beautiful face and figure. Where would you like me to start?"

McCoy goggled at her for a moment, then said, "Start with whichever comes to mind first."

"Okay." Uhura took a sip of her drink and organized her thoughts. "Although our culture pays lip service to the ideal that men and women are equal, the old ideas aren't dead, and everyone still knows what you mean if you say 'masculine' or 'feminine.'"

"Sure," McCoy said, somewhat surprised by this opening.

Uhura went on. "Spock is unusual in that he has all of the virtues that are traditionally considered masculine while having only one of the flaws of traditional masculinity."

Chapel nodded. "He's brave and strong, and I don't mean physically strong, though he's that, too."

Uhura said, "He's decisive, and he's protective of anyone he sees as weaker, which is probably everyone on the ship; he has a real noblesse oblige thing going on."

McCoy raised his glass. "If you repeat this to him, I'll deny it, but I think Jim and I are both willing to stipulate that Spock has all of the masculine virtues; you don't need to list them all."

Kirk smiled. "Agreed. Let's hear about the other side."

Uhura said, "All right. If you think about the flaws or faults of masculinity, he just doesn't have them."

"Just to make sure we're all on the same page," Kirk said, "Suppose you list these masculine faults that Spock doesn't have."

Uhura said, "I'm not saying that all men have these, or even that most men do. But these are the faults that people are willing to overlook if a man has them, whereas they're much less tolerated in a woman. These are things that people think of as masculine, even though they're negative."

"Don't worry," Kirk said, "We all passed Cultural Awareness 101. I'm aware that you're not male bashing or saying that all men do these things. You can put the disclaimers down and just talk."

Chapel said, "It's expected or tolerated or somehow okay for men to be rude, but Spock is always exquisitely polite."

Uhura nodded. "Exquisitely!" She took a sip of her drink. "And it's expected that men will be crude, but Spock is as civilized as they come, even refined."

Chapel sighed. "And most women have cause to fear men's anger. Most of us only have to fear the verbal expression of that anger, though far too many women still have to fear the physical expression of anger. Spock never allows himself to become angry, unless he's been compromised by some sort of illness or alien mind-control or something. It's impossible to even imagine Spock's being physically or verbally abusive when he's in his right mind."

Uhura continued. "And while most women appreciate having male lust directed at them, we usually appreciate it only from one particular man, and in private. Most men don't realize how intrusive most women find it to be leered at in public, by strangers or by acquaintances. And Spock never does that."

Chapel said, "Spock is a pacifist, so he's violent only when there's no other choice, and he's never vengeful."

Uhura added, "Spock is always clean and beautifully groomed; he hates being dirty."

Chapel said, "Spock doesn't smoke or drink or or swear or spit or scratch himself inappropriately or —"

"Okay," Kirk held up a hand. "Okay, we get the idea. Spock has none of the masculine vices except one. I have to know, what's that one?"

Chapel and Uhura exchanged a glance. Chapel said, "He doesn't share his feelings easily, but then, most men don't. And since he's a Vulcan, it's culturally appropriate for him not to do so, so he gets some leeway even on that one."

"Plus," Uhura chimed in, "Although he doesn't talk about his emotions, he can do mind melds, so if you were in a relationship with him, he could take you inside his mind and show you how he felt." She shook her head. "No human can do that, and since it must be the ultimate form of communication, I really wish I could experience it!"

"You and me both," Chapel said, and both women sighed.

Kirk and McCoy exchanged glances. McCoy cleared his throat. "So tell me about the physical, then. I heard you utter the words 'beautiful face and figure,' but I didn't quite believe it."

Uhura looked at Chapel. "You start this one."

Chapel grinned. "Yeah, I'm drunk enough to wax rhapsodic about Spock's face now." She looked at McCoy. "You know this, Doctor." She looked at Kirk. "But you might not."

"Might not know what?" Kirk asked.

"Studies show that women are better than men at interpreting the meaning of facial expressions, especially subtle facial expressions, and Spock's facial expressions are nothing if not subtle."

"Facial expressions!" McCoy looked flabbergasted. "Spock doesn't have facial expressions."

"Yes, he does," Kirk said.

McCoy looked at Kirk. "Well, that explains a lot, like why you've always gotten along better with Spock than I have."

Kirk looked at McCoy. "You really can't see them?"

McCoy shook his head. "Nope. As far as I'm concerned, that man's a statue, the original stone face."

Kirk looked at his friend in surprise, then turned to the two women. "YOU see them."

Chapel smiled. "We do. We see what you see, and the fact that you recognize subtle facial expressions better than most men may be part of why you're so good at understanding and manip—, er, managing people."

Kirk laughed. "You can say 'manipulating;' I'll own up to it. It's part of my job."

"But back to Spock," Uhura said. "The fact that most women can actually detect Spock's subtle facial expressions — and many men cannot — explains why we don't see him as cold or intimidating, the way some of the male crew members do."

"I can't speak for all women, just for myself," Chapel said, "But part of why I can detect Spock's facial expressions is because I look at that face every chance I get. It's the most interestingly beautiful face I've ever seen."

McCoy nearly choked on his drink. "You can say that with Jim Kirk sitting right there? Jim's so pretty his face should be registered as a deadly weapon."

Chapel smiled at Kirk. "No insult to the Captain was intended. Yes, Kirk does have a pretty face, but its very prettiness makes it less interesting than Spock's face. Pretty faces meet our cultural expectations for how faces should look, so they're never very interesting."

Kirk said, "She did say, Bones, that Spock had the most interestingly beautiful face she'd ever seen; I think that might be different from just plain beautiful."

Chapel nodded. "It is. I could look at Spock's face every day and never get tired of it; somehow his face is still interesting, even after seeing it for more than a year now."

"But it's not just interesting," Uhura said, "His face is beautiful. That long, thin face looks like a poet's face. When you add his musician's hands to that poet's face, the combination makes him look sensitive and does a lot to counteract the Vulcan demeanor."

McCoy spluttered. "Sensitive!"

Uhura grinned merrily at the doctor. "Can your heart stand the strain?"

"It's good for him; he can skip tomorrow's workout," Kirk joked. "Please don't stop; this is fascinating — to coin a phrase — and I want to hear more."

Chapel said, "You can always tell what Spock is feeling by watching his eyes. He may be able to keep the rest of his face properly Vulcan, but his eyes give him away. Such dark, deep-set eyes seem like they'd be good at keeping secrets, but he has wonderfully expressive eyes."

"Tell me about it!" Uhura said. "When he and Matt Decker were having their little showdown on the Bridge, while the Captain was on the Constellation, I thought we were going to hear about a new Vulcan special ability called the Vulcan Death Glare."

"I wish I could have seen it," Chapel said.

Uhura said, "Oh, he was magnificent. He faced down a Commodore, and he was so focused and intent, so eager to do the right thing about the doomsday machine and to protect the Enterprise. He followed regulations to the letter, but you could see how he felt in his eyes." She shivered. "If I'd been Matt Decker, I'd have shriveled up on the spot."

"I wish I'd seen that, myself," Kirk said. "Okay, we have expressive eyes, and I'll give you that one; he does have expressive eyes, at least for a Vulcan. What else?"

"Those cheekbones," Chapel said dreamily. "God, you could practically cut yourself on them. I wish I could caress them, just once." She came back to herself with a start, blushed, and took a hasty gulp of her drink.

"And we have to talk about the ears," Uhura said. "Those elegantly beautiful ears. I can't see them without wanting to suck gently on the tips." She winked at Chapel. "I don't suppose we'd be lucky enough that they'd be an erogenous zone?"

McCoy pointed at Uhura. "'ELEGANTLY beautiful?' Now I know you're just saying that to try to wind me up! You can't really believe that."

Uhura looked at Chapel, and they both laughed. "No, Doctor, it's true," the nurse said. "We honestly think his ears are elegantly beautiful."

Kirk rattled the ice in his glass before taking another sip of his drink. "I have to agree with the ladies on this one, Bones. They really are elegantly beautiful."

The doctor gawked at Kirk. "Now, I know you're pulling my leg."

Kirk shook his head. "I'm not, really." He shrugged. "What can I say, they're lovely ears." He looked questioningly at the women, inviting them to go on.

Chapel took up the thread. "And his lips, those were carved by a master sculptor on a good day. They're beautifully shaped, a perfect Cupid's bow."

Uhura nodded. "And I love the gracefully upswept eyebrows and especially the little curlicue at the end."

Chapel said, "Add a lovely line of jaw and chin, plus a strong enough nose to tie it all together, topped off by a cap of dark hair so glossy it looks like it should be the pelt of a seal or some other aquatic mammal, not something as mundane as the hair of a person." She turned to Uhura. "Do you suppose it feels as silky as it looks?"

"If I'm ever privileged enough to find out, I will certainly let you know!" The women laughed.

"With such loving descriptions, I have to accept that you two love every part of Mr. Spock's face," Kirk said. "But what about below the neck? He's skinny; he doesn't fill out the uniform at all."

Chapel shook her head. "Some women like beefy men, but I'm not one of them. To me, he's not skinny, he's deliciously slender. That long, slender torso, those narrow hips, those long legs, that adorable tiny butt..."

Uhura smiled. "Skinny men usually aren't very strong, physically, which can have drawbacks during ... certain activities. But Spock is a Vulcan; even as slender as he is, he's still stronger than any human. We can indulge our fondness for slender men with no drawbacks."

Chapel patted Kirk's hand and said, "Don't worry, Captain; lots of women do like the beefy look. Though I won't name names, I've heard more than one woman call you 'Captain Sexy Pants.'"

Uhura laughed. "It's true, they do! You have nothing to worry about, Captain, believe me."

Kirk smiled. "I've had enough success with the ladies that I wasn't concerned. But it is true that the kind of woman who finds me attractive is the kind of woman I know the most about. I wasn't aware that there were so many women who liked their men ... boney."

The women laughed. "Ah, but they're such good bones, Captain," Chapel said. "Take it from a nurse; those are some very good bones."

McCoy put down his glass with a thunk. "A man who looks like Satan, and women think he's gorgeous!" He shook his head. "I've always heard that women like bad boys."

Chapel laughed. "Spock may look like Satan, but he's the furthest possible thing from a bad boy. He's the most ethical person I've ever met, and when you consider that my acquaintance includes such paragons as the three of you, that's saying something." She smiled at McCoy. "His ethical nature is probably the thing I love most about him, so get that 'bad boy' idea out of your head."

Uhura nodded. "That goes for me, too. Why, even in the Mirror universe, Spock was the best of a bad lot. His loyalty and decency go so deep that even the Empire couldn't corrupt him completely." She tilted her head to one side, thinking. "If the word hadn't been tainted by association with religious zealots and self-righteous idiots of all stripes, I'd say that Spock was a 'righteous' man."

"'Righteous,'" Kirk repeated. "It's a good word for him. And it's a cruel joke that such a morally upstanding person does look like traditional depictions of Satan."

Chapel shook her head. "One of Satan's many names is the Father of Lies. I figure his first lie must have been about what he looks like, so that we wouldn't recognize him."

"But why pick that look?" Kirk asked. "It's not as if there were real people on Earth who looked like that."

Chapel smiled. "I always figured that Satan swapped his picture for one of an angel."

"An angel!" McCoy looked apoplectic.

Chapel grinned. "Ah, but it would explain a lot, wouldn't it? And if the Father of Lies did switch his picture with an angel's, that means that you should be VERY cautious if you ever see someone sporting wings and a halo!"

The other three laughed, and the discussion paused while everyone sipped their drinks. Then Kirk looked at the two women consideringly. "You haven't mentioned his mind. I thought any discussion of Spock's finer qualities would have to start with that magnificent mind."

Uhura said, "That's why I didn't start there, Captain. Everyone knows Spock is a genius, and everyone admires him for it. Telling you that we admire his mind would be redundant; you already know that."

"But it is true," Chapel put in, "And it's one more reason to think longingly about mind melds. To actually go inside that mind, to see what's in such a wonderful brain ... it must be like visiting the galaxy's biggest library."

"I always imagine that it's like the British Museum, myself," Uhura said. "I bet there are rooms upon rooms of the most fascinating artifacts, everything neatly labelled and carefully explained. But living, breathing, growing, not just sitting there static and dead."

McCoy said, "But a mind meld goes both ways. If you ever melded with Spock, he'd see everything that's in your head, too. Doesn't that bother you, something so intrusive? Wouldn't you feel exposed?"

Christine swallowed. "I do worry that my mind would seem rather small and shabby, compared to his. But I'm pretty sure he would never judge me." She took a deep breath, then sighed. "And to be that deeply known, to have someone understand and appreciate every piece of me ... nothing could match that." She looked down and swirled her drink. "It's a depth of intimacy that we humans can't achieve on our own."

Uhura smiled sadly and patted Christine's shoulder. "We shouldn't think so deeply about what we can never have; it'll only get us down."

Christine put her hand over Uhura's and squeezed it. "But sharing it helps. Knowing that you see what I see, that you long for the same things that I do ... I feel like I have company."

Uhura pointed at Christine. "'Company.' Girl, the next time we go on shore leave, we are both going to find some male company. Maybe we can't have a certain Vulcan we both know, but there's a lot we can have, a lot of men who'd be thrilled to show us a good time.

Chapel picked up her glass and clinked it against Uhura's. "It's a plan, Nyota. It's a definite plan." She drank from her glass, then looked challengingly at Kirk and McCoy. "We really did only hit the high points here — there's lots more we could say — but I hope we answered your question."

McCoy shook his head. "I'm still not sure I understand it, but I do at least know that you have reasons, and a lot of them."

"Good reasons, I'd say, Bones." Kirk looked at the women and winked. "Very good reasons."

Kirk's communicator chirped, and he flipped it open. "Kirk here."

"Spock here, Captain. Mr. Scott has repaired the transporter, and three separate test transports have all beamed up flawlessly. If you have finished your 'wee dram,' we will beam you aboard."

"Perfect timing, Mr. Spock," Kirk said. "But then," he smiled at Chapel and Uhura, "I hear that you're perfect in a lot of ways."

"Captain?" Spock's voice was puzzled.

"Four to beam up, Mr. Spock."

The transporter took them home.

.

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Author's Note:

1. It really is true that some studies show that women are better than men at seeing and interpreting facial expressions, especially subtle expressions. (See, for example, Hampson, van Anders, and Mullin, 2006, and Hoffmann, Kessler, Eppel, Rukavina, and Traue, 2010.)

Also, I really do think that women's greater ability to see subtle expressions may explain why Spock was more popular among female fans. Of course, that's not the whole story; Leonard Nimoy's natural magnetism also had something to do with it. :-)

2. Thanks for reading!

3. This is a fan-made work, not for profit, and no infringement is intended. Actually, I'm pretty sure that publicly mooning over Spock is good for the people who own him. :-)

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