Prompt: "We take the same elevator everyday and due to a misunderstanding, I think you can't speak English and I've been talking to my friend about how hot I think you are."
Jemma Kirk was in high spirits as she took the elevator up to her office. It was going to be a great day, she felt it in her bones. The sun was shining, she hadn't put a run in her hose for once, and her last case had gone very well: she'd won a sizable sum for her client. She was in such a good mood that she dared to wave to her normally silent fellow passenger: the tall, brooding Vulcan that she rode up with every day without fail. It was unbelievable how prompt he was in always being exactly on time. She could set her watch by it.
The only time she'd heard him speak, it had been in Vulcan over his blue tooth device so she figured he didn't speak Standard yet and was probably part of the Ambassador's contingent that occupied the floor above the legal firm she worked at.
Smiling, she offered the Vulcan greeting she'd seen him show the mornings he did notice her existence.
He returned it with a nod and the barest hint of what might have been a smile. Jemma swooned inside. He really had beautiful expressive dark eyes, she thought. Too bad they couldn't communicate better. Maybe she should learn some Vulcan phrases.
"He smiled at me!" She squealed to her aide, Gaila, when she returned to her office, practically floating on air from the joy of such a favorable outcome.
"Yeah!" Gaila enthused. "He say anything?"
"Nope. I don't think he knows English," she sighed. "If I️ want this to go farther, I'm going to have to learn some Vulcan. But hey, I like a good challenge. There's no such thing as a no-win scenario."
"So you tell me everyday, darling," Gaila said. "Good luck Wooing Mr. Tall, Dark, and Vulcan!"
She'd first seen the dreamy man two months ago and had been smitten instantly. That height! (He towered over her 5'4 frame) Those eyes! (So gorgeous and mysterious!) Those hands! (Super long, dexterous fingers!) That posture! (Absolutely flawless!)
"What are plotting, Kirk?" Asked the wary voice of the senior partner of the firm, who'd helped Jem get a leg up in the place starting out.
"Nothing you need to be concerned about, Chris!" She answered sweetly, hiding the Vulcan For Dummies book she'd been looking at.
"Whenever you say that, I always suspect something," He said, fixing her with a look that said "Don't take me for a fool." "I know you too well."
"Oh, I'm just doing a little research on Vulcans," she said casually. "Never know when you might meet one, especially since they're right above us."
"They've been there for twenty years," Chris said dryly. "Why are you just now interested?"
"I have my reasons," she said evasively.
"Okay, Okay," Chris sighed, throwing up his hands in defeat. "I won't ask. Just please don't cause an international incident."
"Have some faith, Chris," She implored him. "You know I've been behaving myself lately."
"You have," he admitted. "Keep it up. If you're gonna crush on a Vulcan, make sure you study that book thoroughly. There's a lot that could go wrong if you aren't up on their culture."
With this parting shot, he vanished, leaving Jemma gaping after him and wondering how in the world he'd read her mind.
Nevertheless, she continued to study Vulcan during her breaks and downtime and eagerly anticipated greeting the man in his own language the next time they met.
Unfortunately, he did not appear the next day, or the next or the next. In fact it was nearly two weeks before she saw him again and ended up being too flustered to say anything, shaking her head in extreme frustration at herself afterward.
She was sitting in a nice restaurant having an evening out with friends as she spilled her feelings over the encounters.
Gaila was very sympathetic, but Bones didn't look encouraging.
"Smitten with a Vulcan," he sighed. "Are you out of your corn-fed mind? Don't you know how stiff and uptight they are? Everything's about logic, logic, logic and feelings are a big no-no. I didn't think that would be your type."
"They do too have feelings!" She protested. "They're just really self-controlled. Besides, he's super hot and good mannered."
She related to them the Vulcan greetings she'd learned.
"There's at least three kinds," Jemma said. "I'm trying to decide between two of them. The first is super formal: t'nar pak sorat y'rani. The second is commonly used among Vulcans and more casual: tonk'peh Then there's Nashaut, But that's only used for close friends or bondmates. I should probably go with the formal one, but it's the hardest to say. My mouth just hasn't quite got a handle on it yet."
Gaila snickered at this last statement and Jem gave her an exasperated look.
"Not helpful, Gaila!" She sighed.
"My apologies for disturbing you, but I may be able to assist you in your language efforts."
Jenna looked up and was struck speechless at the sight of her crush, the tall Vulcan from the elevator. He was speaking to her? And in Standard?
"Um...you're the guy in the elevator!" She blurted out. "I thought you didn't speak Standard!"
The Vulcan's slanted eyebrows raised and he almost looked amused.
"It would be most unseemly for the son of an ambassador to not speak the language of his adopted planet. You are a member of the Enterprise law firm, I believe?"
Jemma blushed at her lack of thinking skills. "Yes, I am. And Wow, I didn't know you were actually related to the ambassador. If I wasn't such an idiot, I would have struck up a conversation a long time ago. The name's Jemma Kirk."
"It is an honor to meet you, Ms. Kirk. I am S'chn T'gai Spock, son of Sarek."
If she'd thought the Vulcan greeting was challenging, she couldn't make heads or tails of his surname.
"Please, call me Jemma," she smiled, stifling the instinct to shake hands. Much as Bones told her she had no shame, she did like to think she had a basic sense of propriety.
"And you may call me Spock. I would not ask you to attempt my surname, given that it is unpronounceable to most non-Vulcans."
"Nice to meet you, Spock," she said brightly. Gaila took one look at the situation and dragged Bones away. Jemma would be sure to thank her later.
"So, as I was asking my friend here, which of the greetings would you prefer I use for our little elevator encounters?"
"Tonk'Peh would be appropriate, given we are not in a ceremonial or formal situation. If you wish to continue your studies in Vulcan, I can provide assistance."
"Really?" Jemma asked excitedly, jumping at the chance to spend more time with the gorgeous Spock. "That would be great, if we can work around our schedules. I've got some big cases coming up and I imagine you do a lot of diplomatic stuff."
"I do, but right now, my schedule is very accommodating. Shall we begin the attempt?" He pulled out his sleek and high tech phone.
"I'm game!" She said happily, then seeing the eyebrow quirk up in confusion quickly added, "in other words, I'd be happy to. It's just a human saying. We have a lot of weird language quirks."
"So I have observed," Spock said evenly. "Perhaps our tutoring session can be a mutual exchange of cultural and linguistic information," Spock suggested.
"Sounds good," Jemma agreed and reached for her own mobile device.
A few months later, Chris Pike went into Jenna's office while she was out to leave her an important message pertaining to a case, when he caught sight of the writing on a yellow legal pad lying on the desk.
Ask about Vulcan Courtship customs
He smiled even as he sighed and rolled his eyes. Jemma was going to get her man—Vulcan that is.