" Spock?"

The Vulcan in question looks up from the PADD he's reading and gives her his quiet attention. Nyota averts her gaze down to that of her own tablet and turns it off with a swipe of her finger. If he notices the nervous fidget for what it is, Spock doesn't reveal it. He continues studying her face as she begins to chew at her lip. " I have a personal question to ask you."

" You only need but ask me."

Nyota shrugs her shoulders, sending her hair slinking back behind her. " Well, it's kind of a stupid question."

Spock places his PADD down onto his nightstand and sits up from his reclining position on their bed. He tilts his head in interest as to where this might be headed.

Nyota has never once referred to any of her queries as 'stupid'. When it came to any information of a personal nature his betrothed only offered when directly asked and questioned if she felt the matter to be pertinent to some other issue. That she should want to ask him something intimate that she felt awkward asking had piqued his curiosity. " I will not judge you for the question though I may ask about its origin."

Nyota nods and remains quiet for a moment. Just when he thinks she thought better of asking, he hears her. " When we are...intimate, you get a little mouthy."

Spock clears his throat with a growing blush but maintains his composure otherwise. " Define 'mouthy'."

Nyota shifts along the bed and puts her PADD onto the bed. A exchange of glances tells her that Spock worries over its position and she moves it to her nightstand without compliant. " I mean, you bite me. Not really to hurt but I don't know, why do you do it?"

Spock takes a quick inhale and stares out at some unknown point in space. " Instinctually, I feel a need to...be 'mouthy' with you, as my bondmate when we are engaged in such activities."

" Yes but why? Why is that an instinct?"

Spock clears his throat again and rolls his shoulder blades down across his back, sitting up more comfortably. This was leading down a long and arduous road of discovery. " Between what we Vulcans know from our surviving annuals and the speculation of biologist and historians alike, males may have made such advances for a number of reasons."

" Such as?"

She is leaving nothing to speculation. Spock blinks and thoughtfully tilts his head up towards the ceiling. " Historians believe that bites mark seen along the shoulder of mature Vulcans symboled them as mated and called for. Biologists theorized that such marks were made in our earlier evolution stages to poison and paralyze prey. Later, as we left our pre enlightened ways of eating animal protein, we lost our ability to secrete venom."

Nyota nods but Spock continues, knowing that she would probably appreciate all the information he could dispense. " It is also taught that 'being mouthy' could help in stimulating ovulation in females."

Nyota regards him then, with bright, excited eyes and he feels himself grow wary. " You have more questions."

" Yes, more stupid questions."

Spock shakes his head and leans it back onto the headboard. " Willful ignorance is 'stupid', not inquiries for truth."

Nyota smiles and spreads her hands out over the dark duvet that covers them. She studies them as she launches into her next question. " So, when you are 'mouthy' and 'hands on' -"

" Explain on 'hands on'."

It seems that it is her turn to blush as she turns her profile to him and pulls at a stray thread. " Well, like, umm, when your hands are on my hips, kinda holding me still and in place and when you-"

" I see what behavior you are referring to." he says hurriedly to cut off the rest of her explanation. " To your earlier question, would you care to finish?"

" Yeah, I mean, I don't know, this is getting awkward."

Spock's eyes dart back and forth between her hands, her face and their bed as he tries to assess her. " If I am, at all, making you hesitate over asking something you wish to know, I am sorry. I am...not always proud of my behavior. With you I sometimes find my logic failing, through no fault of your own. I hesitate over your questions because I fear somewhere in them, you will draw the conclusion that you are upset with how I am intimately. That I am lacking or perhaps offensive to you."

" No! No, no, no, Spock, no." she says waving her hands in the air, in an effort to ward off his anxiety. " It's nothing like that at all. It's more to do with your time, I wanted to know more about it."

Now he feels truly perplexed. Spock tilts his head with a mild expression of confusion to his face. " My time?"

" You said, or rather wrote down that Vulcans have a...mating time. Is that the only time we could get pregnant?"

Silence fills the room after her words. Nyota nervously stares down at the comforter but can't stand the pause much more. Gathering her courage, she glances up to find Spock shocked pale and speechless.

His flush face holds his mouth slightly agape and at this moment Nyota thinks it's the most human the half Vulcan has ever looked.

He swallows and slowly works to clear his face. He still looks pensive when he asks Nyota a quick question of his own. " Are you pregnant?"

She shakes her head slowly and he feels himself settle with mixed emotions. Relief, disappointment and curiosity wash over him in waves as he watches her bashfully turn to fully face him. " No, I'm not pregnant but I think I want to be."