One year ago she was nothing but a stranger to him.

A student amongst hundreds that he had no particular interest in. In fact, he had no particular interest in instructing any of them, period. It wasn't exactly the position he saw himself in when he opted out of the Vulcan Academy and instead pursued Starfleet. He had had ideas of grandeur for himself, which he eventually did live out, but at that moment he didn't feel any closer to them. He was just some run of the mill professor whose students didn't care about how smart he was and didn't pay attention half of the time.

But she paid attention. She always had. He had felt her eyes on him, noticing him, during the first week of classes. And it completely unnerved him. Unnerved him. Entirely shook him up. No matter what way he worded it in his complex mind it never made any sense. If he were a normal human he was sure that he would've succumbed to aimless stuttering and nervousness around her like a typical flustered male. And she would have smiled proudly and continued her assault on all of his weakening senses. But luckily for both of them he was far more advanced than that. He controlled himself even more than was necessary. Moved with precaution. Prepared for every advance. And she never smiled coyly. Never even batted an eyelash or licked a lip. And that assaulted his very core even more than any overt flirtation ever could.

His thoughts had been flooded with her. When he wasn't thinking about her he was contemplating what to do about her. And if it wasn't that, he was trying to decipher what it all meant. His mind shooting from one place to another, all guns blazing. He would fight with himself, logic versus want. Right versus wrong. Trying to rationalize some kind of reason for his behavior but never settling on one. He had to prepare himself for every lecture that she attended. Delivering his address in a robotic tone, concentrating hard on the text in front of him; or the wall, or the floor. Anything that kept his eyes from wandering to her. Any thing that kept him from sweeping her body with his gaze, subtly of course. Memorizing every inch, every curve, because sometimes he couldn't help himself. The only other time he brought back these memorizations was when he was alone in his quarters at night, far past anyone else's bedtime. And he always felt guilty in the morning. The off nights were spent making sense of his attraction. The word still didn't feel right sliding off his tongue, even if it was just in his own head for no one else to hear. He wasn't attracted to women. He was attracted to science, to logic. Yes, he was partly human, but his Vulcan desires had always won out over any others. Except when it came to her.

Spock sighed as he rested his hands crossed onto his chest, lying back. It had been a year and he still had yet to figure out their relationship, if he could even call it that. And he had come to accept that. Accept the mystery of it all. He had even come to appreciate it for all it was worth. She made him human. The rest didn't matter. She had made him feel truly human, for the first time in his life. And now she was gone.

She was nothing but a stranger.