Author's Note: The way of love is seldom smooth and flat. With Kirk and Uhura it tends to resemble the great battles in history. Read here the tale of their coming together - one battle and flower at a time.

This story is part of the Time's Keeper Kirk/Uhura 'verse.

All non-original characters belong to their respective owners. Story concept, settings and plot belong to the author in whole or in part. No portion of this material may be reproduced, transmitted, used or modified in any matter on any media without the author's and/or owners' express written permission. Portions copyrighted.


"Jim! Focus! The phrase is 'Aħna nixtiequ li tħallas għall titanju tiegħek' - okay?"

She'd been in his face for the last three hours drilling him on this phrase. The Federation's newest "friends", the Iż-Żgħażaħg [Young People of Iz], happened to live on a planet with the richest mineral deposits useful for space travel that had ever been measured. The raw tonnage exceeded that produced by Vulcan - before the planet's untimely destruction. The Federation actively sought new sources to replace those lost to Vulcan's obliteration.

The Iż-Żgħażagħ presented a challenge to traditional Federation First Contact protocols. Normally the Federation placed covert anthropological and science teams on a planet before actual First Contact. In this way the Federation diplomatic teams had ample knowledge of the inhabitants and could conduct future interchanges from a position of strength. The quantity and quality of resources on planet Iż necessitated a fast-track meeting with the pre-Industrial, tribal community.

The dossier on Iż-Żgħażaħg indicated tribal groups dispersed across the more verdant areas of the planet near potable water sources. The Tfal ta 'Iz - "Children of 'Iz" all adhered to a single planet-wide religion similar to that of Earth's 15th century Middle Eastern regions. Religion dictated daily life and provided a form of the "Rule of Law" after the long period of feudalism ended almost a century ago.

One outcome of this religious focus was the re-combining of dialects created during the feudal period back into the the single planetary language that preceded the split into warring tribes. On Iż-Żgħażaħg the accurate rendering of syntax and correct selection of vocabulary became a life-or-death skill. Priests adjudicated communications misunderstandings daily with the most frequent outcome leaving one of the arguing parties roasting in the ever-burning fires of the pyre built into the temple.

Because fate had a sense of humor, it was the Enterprise that discovered the planet's rich bounty during a routine mapping and geological survey mission. The ship whose captain disdained diplomacy and hated learning new languages.

Stretching on the couch in his quarters, Jim whined loud enough, he hoped, to irritate her into stopping for tonight. His plan was to raise the volume until Grayson, Uhura's son sleeping in Jim's bed, awoke and forced her back to her own quarters. So far his attempt failed because the toddler slept like his human mother not like his Vulcan father.

"Uhura, give me a break! We've been at this for FOUR days. I'm TIRED."

They'd been here before, Kirk and Uhura. Spock's Klingon language class set Kirk's ass on fire at the Academy and she'd applied the fire extinguisher to him. In four physically draining hours she slammed a semester of the language into his skull. She'd stayed hours after her shift ended to make sure he'd pass Spock's class. Embarrassment at her kindness and his imposition on her time ignited their first knock-down-drag-out fight which led to her nearly being raped on the quad when she refused his offer of escort services.

A fatigued, ironic smile communicated Kirk's awareness of the volatile nature of their unusual and confusing relationship so far. He'd always loved her - just not in the last four days.

"So's Grayson, Jim and he's TWO!. He's been sleeping in here for four days thanks to you. Now let's go back over the last -"

"NO, Uhura! I need to sleep!"

"Grow up and man up! You can't keep running away! Ugh!" she groaned, rubbing the heels of her hands over her eyes in exasperation before reacquiring the target of her stare.

Rising to avoid the objection in her eyes, Jim disappeared into his bedroom, returning with a sleeping Grayson in his Galaxy Quest footy pajamas. Speaking quietly to avoid waking the toddler, he continued past her to the door.

"Tomorrow. C'mon - I'll take Grayson to your quarters."

"Gee, thanks. That doesn't make up for you quitting early, Captain. You need to nail this to avoid another interstellar disaster. This is important - especially for you!" she finished, rounding the corner to her quarters behind him.

Kirk waited months before assigning her to an away mission. He'd argued Starfleet into reassigning Spock's First Officer quarters as her quarters, explaining that she was the only dual Chief of Communication and Chief of Protocol in Starfleet. His motives were transparent to anyone who knew the three of them; he wanted her someplace familiar and somewhere close by while she built a new life as a widow.

It took intervention by Admiral Nik Matoskah, a well-liked Barnett colleague, to move Admiral Barnett towards granting Kirk's request. Matoskah had introduced Spock and Uhura when she was a 15-year-old language prodigy and Matoskah's special project at the Academy.

Matoskah had manipulated Spock's Academy career to let them get to know each other, recognizing well before Spock did that Nyota Uhura would understand and love him for himself. Matoskah petitioned Barnett in Uhura's behalf and achieved the success Kirk alone could not; Uhura and Grayson were now Kirk's next door neighbors.

Kirk hadn't wanted to assign her to this away mission as her first job back after Spock's death. The Iż-Żgħażaħg negotiations would be tricky. But Admiral Barnett hand-picked her because she knew the language and had written a paper on first contact with similar civilizations for a xeno-linguistics conference at Cambridge a year and a half ago. The Tfal ta 'Iz taboo against women in roles of authority or responsibility meant Kirk became the lead diplomat.

"Uhura, you've known me long enough to know how much I LOVE learning new languages under pressure. We've got a week -"

The room swallowed the rest of his sentence as Jim expertly transferred Grayson to his bed, leaning down to place a light kiss on the boy's forehead. Leaning on the door frame, Uhura smiled sadly as Grayson grinned in his sleep. Her late husband used to do the same every night. Kirk noted her wistful look as he exited Grayson's room.

"He could've stayed with me tonight, Uhura." he suggested softly, pulling up next to her.

"Thanks, Jim but I'd rather keep him close for a while."

"You want him in your room?" Jim asked as he made his way to the main door.

"No, we're good. Thank you."

"It's my pleasure," he replied, his line in their years-old ritual.

"It's more than that," she whispered, completing the ritual.

Walking him to the door, she sent him off with a goodnight message -

"Tomorrow you don't get to run away. This has to be right or I will cancel this mission as the Chief of Protocol. Understood, James Kirk?"

Kirk's chin dropped to his chest, defeat defining his posture. He outranked her as Chief of Communications; she outranked him as Chief of Protocol. Winning against this woman remained a constant battle.

"Yes ma'am. See you tomorrow," he shot back over his shoulder as he made the left leading to his own door.

Undressing for bed, Uhura worried her lower lip until she had to stop to brush her teeth. She hadn't handled any truly complicated operational communications for two years and no diplomatic work in almost three. Unused to being rusty or unsure she lay awake on the bed for some time talking to the man who used to share the other side with her.

Spohkh, ashayam. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wasn't supposed to do this without you...

This realization no longer brought tears, merely sadness and resignation.